title: Methylobacillus               rhizosphaerae sp. nov., a novel plant-associated methylotrophic bacterium isolated from rhizosphere of red pepper.
abstract: A novel plant-associated obligate methylotrophic bacterium, designated strain Ca-68(T), was isolated from the rhizosphere soil of field-grown red pepper from India. The isolates are strictly aerobic, Gram negative, motile rods multiplying by binary fission and formaldehyde is assimilated via the ribulose monophosphate pathway. A comparative 16S rRNA gene sequence-based phylogenetic analysis placed the strain in a clade with the species Methylobacillus flagellatus, Methylobacillus glycogens and Methylobacillus pratensis, with which it showed pairwise similarity of 97.8, 97.4 and 96.2 %, respectively. The major fatty acids are C(16:0), C(10:0) 3OH and C(16:1) ω7c. The G+C content of the genomic DNA is 59.7 mol%. The major ubiquinone is Q-8. Dominant phospholipids are phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol and diphosphatidylglycerol. Based on 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis and DNA-DNA relatedness (14-19 %) with type strains of the genus Methylobacillus, the novel isolate was classified as a new species of this genus and named Methylobacillus rhizosphaerae Ca-68(T) (=KCTC 22383(T) = NCIMB 14472(T)).
authors.affiliation: Department of Agricultural Microbiology, Tamilnadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, 641 003, Tamilnadu, India. mmadhaiyan@hotmail.com
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Madhaiyan
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Poonguzhali
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Senthilkumar
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pragatheswari
authors.forename: K-C
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: J-S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D000332:Aerobiosis; D015373:Bacterial Typing Techniques; D001482:Base Composition; D002212:Capsicum / Q000382:microbiology*; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D005227:Fatty Acids / Q000032:analysis; D007194:India; D008124:Locomotion; D053858:Metabolic Networks and Pathways; D020631:Methylobacillus / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000502:physiology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009693:Nucleic Acid Hybridization; D010743:Phospholipids / Q000032:analysis; D010802:Phylogeny; D018517:Plant Roots / Q000382:microbiology; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics; D058441:Rhizosphere; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D012988:Soil Microbiology; D014451:Ubiquinone / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal; D005227:Fatty Acids; D010743:Phospholipids; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; D014451:Ubiquinone