sp. nov., a pathogen causing bacterial bud blight of cyclamen in Japan.

Five phytopathogenic bacterial strains, MAFF 301449, MAFF 301450, MAFF 301451, MAFF 301452, and MAFF 301453, which were isolated from bud blight lesions of cyclamen ( Mill.) in Miyagi, Japan, were subjected to polyphasic taxonomic characterisation. The cells were Gram-reaction-negative, aerobic, non-spore-forming, motile with one to five polar flagella, and rod-shaped. Analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that they belong to the genus , with 14-3 (99.79 % sequence similarity), DSM 14937 (99.79 %), DSM 14936 (99.72 %), and CMS 35 (99.72 %) as their relatives. The genomic DNA G+C content was 60.3 mol% and the major fatty acids (>5 % of the total fatty acids) were C, summed feature 3 (C ω7/C ω6), summed feature 8 (C ω7/C ω6), and C cyclo. Phylogenetic analysis using the gene sequences and phylogenomic analyses based on the whole genome sequences demonstrated that the strains are members of the subgroup, but form a monophyletic and robust clade separated from their relatives. Average nucleotide identity and digital DNA-DNA hybridisation analyses with the closely related species corroborated their novel species status. The strains were differentiated from their relatives by phenotypic characteristics, pathogenicity towards cyclamen, cellular fatty acid composition, and whole-cell MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry profiles. Based on the phenotypic, chemotaxonomic, and genotypic data obtained, we conclude that the strains represent a novel species, for which we propose the name sp. nov.; the type strain is MAFF 301449 (=ICMP 23720).