Downloaded from www.microbiologyresearch.org by IP: 54.237.106.114 On: Fri, 21 Apr 2017 16:31:15 Microbacterium luticocti sp. nov., isolated from sewage sludge compost Ivone Vaz-Moreira, 1 Ana R. Lopes, 2 Enevold Falsen, 3 Peter Schumann, 4 Olga C. Nunes 2 and Ce ´ lia M. Manaia 1 Correspondence Ce ´ lia M. Manaia cmmanaia@esb.ucp.pt 1 Escola Superior de Biotecnologia, Universidade Cato ´ lica Portuguesa, 4200-072 Porto, Portugal 2 LEPAE – Departamento de Engenharia Quı ´mica, Faculdade de Engenharia, Universidade do Porto, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal 3 Culture Collection University Go ¨ teborg, Department of Clinical Bacteriology, S-41346 Go ¨ teborg, Sweden 4 DSMZ – Deutsche Sammlung von Mikroorganismen und Zellkulturen GmbH, Inhoffenstraße 7B, D-38124 Braunschweig, Germany Strain SC-087B T , isolated from sewage sludge compost during a study of bacterial diversity in composts, was characterized. The isolate was a Gram-positive, short rod that was motile, catalase- and oxidase-negative and able to grow at 27–45 6C, pH 5.5–9.7 and in up to 10 % NaCl. The peptidoglycan was of the B2b type, containing the characteristic amino acids ornithine, homoserine and hydroxyglutamic acid. The muramic acid residues of the peptidoglycan were partially glycolylated. The major cell-wall sugar was mannose; traces of xylose were also detected. The predominant fatty acids, comprising more than 70 % of the total, were anteiso-C 17 : 0 and anteiso-C 15 : 0 , the major respiratory quinone was menaquinone-12 (MK-12) and the G+C content of the genomic DNA was 72 mol%. Based on analysis of the 16S rRNA gene sequence, the closest phylogenetic neighbours of strain SC-087B T were members of the family Microbacteriaceae, showing sequence similarity values of around 96 % with members of the species Microbacterium barkeri (96.0 %), Microbacterium gubbeenense (95.6 %) and Microbacterium indicum (95.7 %). The chemotaxonomic and phenotypic traits analysed supported the inclusion of this strain within the genus Microbacterium and the proposal of a novel species. The name Microbacterium luticocti sp. nov. is proposed and the type strain is SC-087B T (5DSM 19459 T 5CCUG 54537 T ). Composting is the biological decomposition of organic matter under aerobic conditions to produce a humus-like product that can be used for gardening or as a soil corrective. During this process, temperatures around 60 u C are reached, imposing stressful thermal conditions on the mesophilic microbiota (Epstein, 1997). In spite of this, mesophilic bacteria belonging to different phyla have been isolated from thermal composts (Tiago et al., 2004; Vaz- Moreira et al., 2008). This paper describes a bacterial strain, designated SC- 087B T , isolated from municipal sewage sludge compost (Vaz-Moreira et al., 2008). This compost was produced in a windrow digester from anaerobically digested sludge of a municipal wastewater treatment plant mixed with granular pine bark. 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis revealed that strain SC-087B T was affiliated to the family Microbacteriaceae, with members of the genus Micro- bacterium as the closest neighbours (Takeuchi & Hatano, 1998a). This genus currently comprises more than 50 recognized species (Euze ´by, 1997), including isolates from a broad range of origins, namely soil, air, water, dairy products, plant galls, insects, clinical samples and even culture contaminants (Takeuchi & Hatano, 1998b; Matsuyama et al., 1999; Behrendt et al., 2001; Schippers et al., 2005; Richert et al., 2007). The isolate was purified by subculturing on plate count agar (PCA) and maintained on brain heart infusion (BHI) agar. Cultures were incubated at 30 uC and cells were stored at 280 u C in nutritive broth with 15 % (v/v) glycerol for preservation. Colony and cell morphologies, Gram-staining, cytochrome c oxidase and catalase tests, production of endospores and motility were analysed based on the methodologies of Murray et al. (1994) and Smibert & Krieg (1994). Unless otherwise stated, all biochemical and physiological tests were performed as described The GenBank/EMBL/DDBJ accession number for the 16S rRNA gene sequence of strain SC-087B T is AM747814. International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology (2008), 58, 1700–1704 DOI 10.1099/ijs.0.65494-0 1700 65494 G 2008 IUMS Printed in Great Britain