Corynebacterium deserti sp. nov., isolated from desert sand.

A novel coryneform bacterium, designated strain GIMN1.010T, was isolated from a sand sample collected in the desert in the west of China. Cells were Gram-stain-positive, non-spore-forming, catalase-positive, irregular rods. Comparative 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis demonstrated that strain GIMN1.010T belonged to the genus Corynebacterium and was related closely to Corynebacterium glutamicum ATCC 13032T (98.4 % similarity). However, the level of DNA-DNA relatedness between strain GIMN1.010T and C. glutamicum ATCC 13032T was only 22.4±1.72 %, showing that strain GIMN1.010T represented a genomic species distinct from C. glutamicum. On the basis of phenotypic and phylogenetic data, strain GIMN1.010T is considered to represent a novel species of the genus Corynebacterium, for which the name Corynebacterium deserti sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is GIMN1.010T (=CCTCC AB 2010341T=NRRL B-59552).