title: Erwinia endophyticasp. nov., isolated from potato (Solanum tuberosumL.) stems.
abstract: We analysed, using a polyphasic taxonomic approach, two bacterial strains coded BSTT30Tand BSTT40, isolated in the course of a study of endophytic bacteria occurring in the stems and roots of potatoes growing in soil from Salamanca, Spain. The 16S rRNA gene sequence was identical in both strains and had 98.4 % identity with respect to the closest relativesErwinia tasmaniensisEt1/99TandErwinia rhaponticiATCC29283T.Erwinia billingiaeE63TandErwinia toletanaA37Twere also closely related with 98.2 % sequence similarities, so the novel strains were classified within the genusErwinia. The analysis of the housekeeping genesgpd, gyrBandrpoDconfirmed the phylogenetic affiliation of strains BSTT30Tand BSTT40 with similarities of lower than 90 % in all cases with respect to the closest relatives mentioned above. The respiratory quinone of strain BSTT30Twas Q8. The major fatty acids were C16 : 0, C16 : 1ω7c/16 : 1ω6cin summed feature 3 and C18 : 1ω7c/18 : 2ω6,9cin summed feature 8. The novel strains were oxidase-negative and catalase-positive. Glucose was fermented without gas production. They were negative for arginine dihydrolase, urease and indole production. The strains could grow at 35 °C and at pH 10. DNA G+C content was 50.1 mol%. DNA-DNA hybridization results showed values of lower than 29 % relatedness with respect to the type strains of the four most closely related species. Therefore, the combined genotypic, phenotypic and chemotaxonomic data support the classification of strains BSTT30Tand BSTT40 into a novel species of the genusErwinia, for which the nameErwinia endophyticasp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is BSTT30T( = LMG 28457T, CECT 8692T).
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Recursos Naturales y Agrobiología. IRNASA-CSIC, Salamanca, Spain.|Unidad Asociada Grupo de Interacción Planta-Microorganismo Universidad de Salamanca-IRNASA (CSIC).
authors.forename: Martha-Helena
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Ramírez-Bahena
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Recursos Naturales y Agrobiología. IRNASA-CSIC, Salamanca, Spain.
authors.forename: Sergio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Salazar
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Recursos Naturales y Agrobiología. IRNASA-CSIC, Salamanca, Spain.
authors.forename: Maria José
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Cuesta
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Microbiología y Genética, Universidad de Salamanca, Spain.
authors.forename: Carmen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tejedor
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Recursos Naturales y Agrobiología. IRNASA-CSIC, Salamanca, Spain.|Unidad Asociada Grupo de Interacción Planta-Microorganismo Universidad de Salamanca-IRNASA (CSIC).
authors.forename: José-Mariano
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Igual
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Ciencias Agrarias. ICA-CSIC, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Mercedes
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fernández-Pascual
authors.affiliation: Unidad Asociada Grupo de Interacción Planta-Microorganismo Universidad de Salamanca-IRNASA (CSIC).|Instituto de Recursos Naturales y Agrobiología. IRNASA-CSIC, Salamanca, Spain.
authors.forename: Álvaro
authors.initials: Á
authors.lastname: Peix