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A Gram-staining positive, non-spore forming, non-pigmented and non-motile bacterium, designated strain NCCP-1664T, was isolated from Cholistan desert, Pakistan. Cells of strain NCCP-1664T were strictly aerobic, catalase positive and oxidase negative with a rod to coccus growth cycle and can grow at pH 6.0–9.0 (optimum pH 7–8) at 28–45 °C (optimum 37 °C) and could tolerate 0–16% NaCl (optimum 2%). Phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rRNA gene sequence revealed that strain NCCP-1664T belongs to the family Micrococcaceae and was related to members of the genus Arthrobacter having highest sequence similarities with Arthrobacter ginkgonis (98.9%), A. halodurans (97.7%) and A. oryzae (97.1%) and less than 97% with other related taxa. DNA–DNA relatedness values of strain NCCP-1664T with above mentioned type strains were found to be less than 54%, whereas digital DDH and average nucleotide identity (ANI) values with A. oryzae were 20.9 and of 74.3%, respectively. DNA G + C content of strain NCCP-1664T was 70.0 mol%. Chemotaxonomic data of strain NCCP-1664T showed the peptidoglycan type as A3αl-Lys–l -Ala; menaquinones as MK-9(H2) (67%), MK-8(H2) (32%) and MK-7(H2) (1%), major fatty acids as anteiso -C15:0 (51.2%), anteiso-C17:0 (9.6%) and C18:1ω9c (6.9%) and polar lipids profile comprising of diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylinositol, digalactosyldiacylglycerol, small amounts of monogalactosyldiacylglycerol, trimannosyldiacylglycerol and three unidentified lipids. The phylogenomic analyses along with chemotaxonomic data, physiological, biochemical characteristics allowed to describe it as representative of a novel genus, for which the name Zafaria cholistanensis gen. nov. sp. nov. is proposed with the type strain NCCP-1664T (= DSM 29936T = KCTC 39549T). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study was conducted to analyze bacterial diversity profile of Cholistan desert located in Pakistan. The study investigates the influence of physicochemical parameters of soil on distribution of different bacteria at all taxonomic levels and also study the distribution pattern between different desert environments, particularly rhizospheric and bulk desert sands. Species richness showed phyla Proteobacteria and Chloroflexi as the dominant OTUs in all the samples. Besides the two phyla, the rhizospheric soils with root remnants were dominated by Firmicutes, Deinococcus-Thermus, Actinobacteria and Acidobacteri, while phylum Thermotogae was present in significant quantity in rhizosheaths devoid of roots. In non-rhizospheric desert soils, a considerable number of OTUs belonged to phyla Proteobacteria, Chloroflexi, Bacteroidetes and Acidobacteria. An important finding from this study is that a bulk portion of the OTUs were assigned to unclassified taxa, indicating a large repertoire of unexplored taxa in the desert ecology of Pakistan. Distribution of taxonomic groups among various regions of the desert was collaborating well with the physicochemical parameters of the sites. The findings of this study establish the fundamental relationships between desert ecosystem, specific native plant and the total bacterial flora. This is the first study of microbial community analysis of any desert in Pakistan and thus, will serve as a future platform to explore further on desert ecosystem functioning by employing the ever-changing biotechnological tools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A Gram-negative, non-spore-forming, non-pigmented, strictly aerobic and non-motile short rod bacterium, designated NCCP-1258, was isolated from Cholistan desert soil, Bahawalpur, Pakistan. Growth of strain NCCP-1258 was observed at pH range 6.5-9.5 (optimum 7.5-8.5) and temperature range 20-45 °C (optimum 40 °C), and it tolerated 0-2 % NaCl (optimum 0.5 %, w/v). Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequence comparison revealed that strain NCCP-1258 belongs to genus Microvirga and is most closely related to Microvirga lotononidis (98.0 %), Microvirga vignae (97.4 %), Microvirga lupini (97.2 %), Microvirga zambiensis (97.2 %) and Microvirga flocculans (97.1 %). Analysis of the concatenated sequences of four housekeeping gene loci ( dnaK, gyrB, recA and rpoB) also confirmed the placement of strain NCCP-1258 within the genus Microvirga. DNA-DNA relatedness values of NCCP-1258 with above-mentioned type strains were less than 42 %. The DNA G+C content of strain NCCP-1258 was 64.3 mol%. Chemotaxonomic data (predominant menaquinone system was Q-10; major fatty acids were C, C ω7 c and C cyclo ω8 c; the polar lipid profile contained diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidyl dimethyl ethanolamine and phosphatidyl ethanolamine) also supported the affiliation of strain NCCP-1258 to the genus Microvirga. On the basis of physiological and biochemical characteristics, phylogenetic analyses and DNA-DNA relatedness, strain NCCP-1258 can be distinguished from the closely related taxa and thus represents a novel species of the genus Microvirga, for which the name Microvirga pakistanensis sp. nov. is proposed with the type strain NCCP-1258 (=CGMCC 1.15074 = KCTC 42496). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chemotaxonomic data of strain NCCP-1664 SP T sp showed peptidoglycan type as A3 l-Lys - l-Ala (A11.4); menaquinones as MK-9(H SB 2 sb ) (67%), MK-8(H SB 2 sb ) (32%) and MK-7(H SB 2 sb ) (1%) and polar lipids profile comprising of diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylinositol, digalactosyldiacylglycerol, small amounts of monogalactosyldiacylglycerol, trimannosyldiacylglycerol and three unidentified lipids. The bio-project, bio-sample and whole-genome sequences of strain NCCP-1664 SP T sp have been deposited to DDBJ/EMBL/GenBank under the accession numbers PRJDB8509, SAMD00178857 and BKDJ01000000, respectively. [Extracted from the article]