Sphingomonas arantia sp. nov., isolated from Hoh Xil basin, China.

A Gram-negative, rod-shaped, non-motile, non-spore forming, aerobic, orange-pigmented bacterium, designated strain 6PT, was isolated from a soil sample collected from the Hoh Xil basin, China. Strain 6PT grew optimally at 25 °C, pH 7.0–7.5 and NaCl concentration of 0–1 % (w/v). Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain 6PT belongs to the genus Sphingomonas, with high sequence similarity (97.1 %) to Sphingomonas fennica. The DNA–DNA hybridization homology with S. fennica DSM 13665T was 45.3 %. The DNA G+C content of the novel strain is 65.3 mol%. The isolate contained Q-10 as the only respiratory quinone. The major polar lipids are diphosphatidylglycerol (DPG), phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), phosphatidylglycerol (PG), phosphatidylcholine (PC) and sphingoglycolipid (SGL). C18:1ω7c and C16:1ω7c are the major fatty acids. On the basis of the polyphasic evidence presented, strain 6PT represents a novel species of the genus Sphingomonas, for which the name Sphingomonas arantia sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is 6PT (=CGMCC 1.12702T = JCM 19855T).