Abstract

A motile, rod-shaped and yellow-coloured bacterium, designated strain SYSU D60001 T , was isolated from a desert soil sample. Cells were Gram-stain-negative, catalase-negative and oxidase-positive. The major cellular fatty acids were summed feature 8 (C 18:1 ω 7 c and/or C 18:1 ω 6 c ) and C 16:0 . The respiratory quinone was ubiquinone-10. The genomic DNA G+C content was 68%. The polar lipids detected were diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol, an unidentified phospholipid and five unidentified polar lipids. Phylogenetic analysis based on the 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that strain SYSU D60001 T represents a novel species of the genus  Sphingosinicella , with closely related strains Sphingosinicella ginsenosidimutans BS1 T (95.81%), Sphingomonas deserti GL-C-18 T (95.75%) and Sphingosinicella humi QZX222 T (95.18%). Data from polyphasic taxonomy study suggest that the isolate represents a novel species in the genus Sphingosinicella , for which the name Sphingosinicella terrae sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain of the proposed new taxon is SYSU D60001 T (= DSM 104938 T  = KCTC 52780 T  = NBRC 112955 T ). We also propose the reclassification of Sphingomonas deserti as Sphingosinicella deserti comb. nov .