Sinomonas puerhi sp. nov. isolated from the rhizosphere soil of Pu-erh tea based on whole-genomic profiling

An aerobic, Gram-stain-positive, rod-shaped and non-motile bacterium, designated strain P10A9, was isolated from the rhizosphere soil of Pu-erh tea plants (<i>Camellia sinensis</i> var. <i>assamica</i>) in an organic tea garden in the Jingmai Pu-erh Tea District, Pu'er City, Yunnan Province, China. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that strain P10A9 belongs to the genus <i>Sinomonas</i>, with its closest relative being <i>Sinomonas atrocyanea</i> KCTC 3377^T (98.4% similarity). The major fatty acids (>10.0% of the total) were anteiso-C_{15 : 0} and anteiso-C_17:0. The predominant respiratory quinone was MK-9(H₂), with MK-8(H₂) as a minor component. The major polar lipids included diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylinositol and glycolipids. The peptidoglycan contained glutamic acid (Glu), lysine (Lys), aspartic acid (Asp), serine (Ser), alanine (Ala) and glycine (Gly). The genome of strain P10A9 is 4.3 Mbp in size, with a G+C content of 69.2 mol%. Digital DNA-DNA hybridization values between strain P10A9 and other <i>Sinomonas</i> species ranged from 20.8 to 25.1%, and the average nucleotide identity values were significantly below the species delineation threshold (95-96%). Based on these results, strain P10A9 represents a novel species of the genus <i>Sinomonas</i>, for which the name <i>Sinomonas puerhi</i> sp<i>.</i> nov. is proposed. The type strain is P10A9^T (=CCTCC AB 2024154^T=KCTC 59368^T).