Planococcus ruber sp. nov., isolated from a polluted farmland soil sample.

A pale-red-pigmented bacterial strain, designated CW1T, was isolated from a polluted soil sample in China and was characterized by a polyphasic taxonomic approach. Strain CW1T was Gram-stain-positive (or variable), coccoid, motile by a single polar flagellum and non-spore-forming. Growth was observed at 15-37 °C, but not at 10 °C or 40 °C, at pH 5.0-9.0 and with 0-5 % NaCl (w/v). Phylogenetic analysis showed that strain CW1T belongs to the genus Planococcus. The 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities between CW1T and the four most closely related type strains, Planococcus antarcticus DSM 14505T, Planococcus halocryophilus DSM 24743T, Planomicrobium soli XN13T and Planomicrobium okeanokoites NBRC 12536T were 97.96, 97.83, 97.83 and 97.82 %, respectively. The whole-cell sugars contained galactose, ribose and glucose. The major respiratory quinone was MK-7 followed by MK-8, and the major fatty acids were anteiso-C15 : 0 and anteiso-C17 : 0. The polar lipids consisted of diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine and phosphoglycolipid. The DNA G+C content was 48.6 mol%. The phylogenetic and chemotaxonomic analyses indicated that strain CW1T belongs unanimously to the genus Planococcus. However, DNA-DNA hybridization showed relatively low relatedness of 21.8 % (DSM 14505T) and 19.6 % (DSM 24743T) with the two most closely related strains of the genus Planococcus. Combined with the genotypic and phenotypic analysis, strain CW1T should represent a novel species in the genus Planococcus, for which the name Planococcus ruber sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is CW1T (=CCTCC AB 207187T=LMG 24442T).