Lichenicola cladoniae gen. nov., sp. nov., a member of the family Acetobacteraceae isolated from an Antarctic lichen

Abstract

Two Gram-stain-negative, facultative anaerobic, chemoheterotrophic, pink-coloured, rod-shaped and non-motile bacterial strains, PAMC 26568 and PAMC 26569(T), were isolated from an Antarctic lichen. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that strains PAMC 26568 and PAMC 26569(T) belong to the family Acetobacteraceae and the most closely related species are Gluconacetobacter takamatsuzukensis (96.1 %), Gluconacetobacter tumulisoli (95.9%) and Gluconacetobacter sacchari (95.7%). Phylogenomic and genomic relatedness analyses showed that strains PAMC 26568 and PAMC 26569(T) are clearly distinguished from other genera in the family Acetobacteraceae by average nucleotide identity values (<72.8 %) and the genome-to-genome distance values (<22.5%). Genomic analysis revealed that strains PAMC 26568 and PAMC 26569T do not contain genes involved in atmospheric nitrogen fixation and utilization of sole carbon compounds such as methane and methanol. Instead, strains PAMC 26568 and PAMC 26569(T) possess genes to utilize nitrate and nitrite and certain monosaccharides and disaccharides. The major fatty acids (>10%) are summed feature 8 (C-18:1 omega 7c and/or C-18:1 omega 6c; 40.3-40.4 %), C-18:1 20H (22.7-23.7%) and summed feature 2 (C-14:0 30H and/or C-16:1 iso I; 12.0 % in PAMC 26568). The major respiratory quinone is Q-10. The genomic DNA G+C content of PAMC 26568 and PAMC 26569(T) is 64.6 %. Their distinct phylogenetic position and some physiological characteristics distinguish strains PAMC 26568 and PAMC 26569(T) from other genera in the family Acetobacteraceae supporting the proposal of Lichenicola gen. nov., with the type species Lichenicola cladoniae sp. nov. (type strain, PAMC 26569(T)=KCCM 43315(T)=JCM 33604(T)).