Massilia aromaticivorans sp. nov., a BTEX Degrading Bacterium Isolated from Arctic Soil.

A novel BTEX degrading bacterial strain, designated ML15P13, was isolated from Arctic soil at the Svalbard Islands, Norway, using an enrichment culture technique. This isolate is Gram-negative, aerobic, motile with multiple flagella at one polar end, and rod-shaped. Growth was observed at 4-35 °C, pH 6.0-8.0, and 0-0.5% (w/v) NaCl. According to 16S rRNA gene analysis, strain ML15P13 was grouped with members of the genus Massilia and closely related to Massilia atriviolacea SOD (98.4%), Massilia violaceinigra B2 (98.3%), Massilia eurypsychrophila B528-3 (97.7%), Massilia glaciei B448-2 (97.7%), and Massilia psychrophila B115-1 (96.6%). Average nucleotide identity, digital DNA-DNA hybridization, and average amino acid identity between genome sequences of strain ML15P13 and the closely related species ranged from 75.8 to 84.3%, from 19.6 ± 1.0 to 21.6 ± 0.3%, and from 68.8 to 71.0%, respectively. The major fatty acids were C, summed feature 3 (C ω6c and/or C ω7c), and summed feature 8 (C ω7c and/or C ω6c). Q-8 was the major ubiquinone. The polar lipid profile showed the presence of phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol, diphosphatidylglycerol, one unidentified phospholipid, and five unidentified polar lipids. The G + C content of the genomic DNA was 64.2 mol%. Based on the results for genotypic and phenotypic study, we conclude that strain ML15P13 represents a novel species of the genus Massilia, for which the name Massilia aromaticivorans sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is ML15P13 (= KACC 21773 = JCM 34089).