Methyloterrigena soli gen. nov., sp. nov., a methanol-utilizing bacterium isolated from chloroethylene-contaminated soil.

A Gram-stain-negative, aerobic, short rod-shaped and motile bacterial strain, designated M48T, was isolated from a soil sample contaminated with chloroethylene compounds. Strain M48T was able to biodegrade methanol as a sole carbon source. Based on 16S rRNA gene sequences, strain M48T was closely related to Devosia chinhatensis IPL18T, Devosia insulae DS-56T, Vasilyevaea enhydra 9bT and Devosia psychrophila Cr7-05T, showing sequence similarities of 96.0, 95.8, 95.6 and 95.5 %, respectively. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain M48T formed a distinct lineage within the family Hyphomicrobiaceae of the class Alphaproteobacteria. Strain M48T contains Q-10 as the predominant ubiquinone, and C18 : 1ω7c 11-metyl, C16 : 0, C19 : 0 cyclo ω8c and C18 : 1ω7c as the major fatty acids. The polar lipid profile includes diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine and dimannosyldiacylglycerol. The DNA G+C content of strain M48T was 60.3 mol%. Based on phenotypic, phylogenetic and chemotaxonomic data, strain M48T represents a novel species of a new genus within the family Hyphomicrobiaceae, for which the name Methyloterrigena soli gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain of the type species is M48T ( = KEMB 224-262T = JCM 30821T).