Rhizobium phenanthrenilyticum sp. nov., a novel phenanthrene-degrading bacterium isolated from a petroleum residue treatment system

Strain F11(T), a phenanthrene-degrading bacterium, was isolated from a petroleum residue treatment system, and classified under the genus Rhizobium based on the similarity analysis of its 16S rRNA and recA gene sequences. Strain F11(T) falls into the same phylogenetic clade with Rhizobium oryzae Alt 505(T) (96.8% 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity) and Rhizobium pseudoryzae J34A-127(T) (96.2%). Major cellular fatty acids of strain F11(T) are C(16:0) (6.24%) and summed feature 8 (C(18:1ω7c) and/or C(18:1ω6c), 76.59%), which are also the major fatty acids of R. oryzae Alt 505(T) and R. pseudoryzae J34A-127(T). The DNA G+C content of strain F11(T) was 59.3±0.4 mol%. Based on the phylogenetic analysis as well as biochemical and physiological characteristics, strain F11(T) could be separated from all recognized Rhizobium species. Strain F11(T) (=DSM 21882(T) =CCTCC AB 209029(T)) was considered to be representative of a novel species of Rhizobium, for which the name Rhizobium phenanthrenilyticum sp. nov. is proposed.