Flavobacterium endophyticum sp. nov., a nifH gene -harbouring endophytic bacterium isolated from maize root.

A novel Gram-negative, aerobic and rod-shaped strain designated 522T was isolated from surface-sterilized root tissue of maize planted in Fangshan District of Beijing, Peopole's Republic of China. A polyphasic taxonomy was performed on the new isolate. On the basis of 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity studies, this isolate belonged to the genus Flavobacterium and showed below 93.9 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity value to all the type strains of the recognized species in the genus Flavobacterium. The predominant respiratory quinone was menaquinone-6 and the polar lipid profile was composed of the major lipids phosphatidylethanolamine and phosphatidylserin and two unidentified amino lipids .The major fatty acids consisted of C15:0 , iso- C15:0 , iso- C15:1 G and iso- C16:0. The G+C content of the DNA was 37.7 mol%. The results of physiological and biochemical tests and the differences in the fatty acid profiles allowed a clear phenotypic differentiation of strain 522T from the closely related species in this genus Flavobacterium. Strain 522T represents therefore a novel species within the genus Flavobacterium, for which the name Flavobacterium endophyticum sp. nov. is proposed, with the type strain 522T ( =ACCC 19708 = DSM29537 ).