<Emphasis Type="Italic">Methylovorus menthalis</Emphasis>, a novel species of aerobic obligate methylobacteria associated with plants

A bacterial strain (MM) utilizing methanol as the only carbon and energy source was isolated from corn mint rhizoplane. The cells of the strain were gram-negative colorless motile rods. Spores and prosthecae were not formed, reproduced by binary fission, and did not require vitamins and growth factors. The organism was strictly aerobic, urease-, oxidase-, and catalase-positive. Used the KDPG variant of the ribulose monophosphate pathway. Possessed NAD⁺ dependent 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase activity and enzymes of the glutamate cycle. The activities of α-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase and of the glyoxylate bypass enzymes (isocitrate lyase and malate synthase) were absent. Palmitic (C_16:0) and palmitoleic (C_16:1) acids were predominant in the cell fatty-acid composition. The dominant phospholipids were phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol, and phosphatidylcholine. The dominant ubiquinone was Q₈. The strain formed indole from tryptophan. The DNA G + C content was 54.5 mol % (T _m). According to the data of the 16S rRNA gene sequencing, strain MM showed high similarity (98–99%) to Methylovorus glucosotrophus VKM B-1745^T and Methylovorus mays VKM B-2221^T, but the level of DNA-DNA homology with these cultures was only 40 and 58%, respectively. The strain was classified as a new species, Methylovorus menthalis sp. nov. (VKM B-2663^T).