Novosphingobium ginsenosidimutans sp. nov., with the Ability to Convert Ginsenoside

A Gram-negative, strictly aerobic, non-motile, non-spore-forming, and rod-shaped bacterial strain designated FW- was isolated from a freshwater sample and its taxonomic position was investigated by using a polyphasic approach. Strain FW- grew optimally at and at pH 7.0 on nutrient and R2A agar. Strain FW- displayed -glucosidase activity that was responsible for its ability to transform ginsenoside (one of the dominant active components of ginseng) to Rd. On the basis of 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity, strain FW- was shown to belong to the family Sphingomonadaceae and was related to Novosphingobium aromaticivorans DSM (98.1% sequence similarity) and N. subterraneum IFO (98.0%). The G+C content of the genomic DNA was 64.4%. The major menaquinone was Q-10 and the major fatty acids were summed feature 7 (comprising ), summed feature 4 (comprising ), , and 2OH. DNA and chemotaxonomic data supported the affiliation of strain FW- to the genus Novosphingobium. Strain FW- could be differentiated genotypically and phenotypically from the recognized species of the genus Novosphingobium. The isolate that has ginsenoside converting ability therefore represents a novel species, for which the name Novosphingobium ginsenosidimutans sp. nov. is proposed, with the type strain FW- (= KACC = JCM ).