Five aerobic, Gram-stain-negative bacterial strains, designated as C3-2-a3T, B3-2-R+30, C3-2-a4, C3-2-M3 and C3-2-M8, were isolated from the coastal soil of LungmuCo Lake in the Tibet Autonomous Region, PR China. Phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rRNA genes and genomes indicated that these isolates belonged to the genus Luteimonas and showed a high similarity to Luteimonas suaedae LNNU 24178T (99.01%), Luteimonas endophytica RD2P54T (98.80%) and Luteimonas salinisoli SJ-92T (97.67%). The average nucleotide identity (ANI) and digital DNA-DNA hybridization (dDDH) values between strain C3-2-a3T and related reference strains Luteimonas suaedae LNNU 24178T, Luteimonas endophytica RD2P54T and Luteimonas salinisoli SJ-92T were 91.89, 83.11 and 83.86% and 46.90, 26.90 and 28.20%, respectively. All values were below the thresholds for delineating species, supporting their classification as novel species of the genus Luteimonas. The genomic DNA G+C content of strains C3-2-a3T was 68.39%. The major polar lipids were diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine and two unidentified phospholipids. The predominant respiratory quinone was ubiquinone-8 (Q-8), aligning with the characteristics of members of the genus Luteimonas. The major fatty acids (>10.0%) of strain C3-2-a3T were identified as iso-C11 : 0, iso-C15 : 0, iso-C16 : 0 and iso-C17 : 1 ω9c. Based on the results of phenotypic, physiological, chemotaxonomic and genotypic characterizations, we propose that the isolates represent a novel species of genus Luteimonas, for which the name Luteimonas salinilitoris sp. nov is proposed. The type strain is C3-2-a3T (=CGMCC 1.14507T=KCTC 8642T).
Keywords: Luteimonas salinilitorissp. nov.; Tibet; saline lake; soil.