Azospirillum himalayense sp. nov., a nifH bacterium isolated from Himalayan valley soil, India

Gram-negative, free-living bacterial strain ptl-3T was isolated from Himalayan valley soil, India. Polyphasic taxonomy was performed including morphological characterization, fatty acid analysis, biochemical tests, 16S rRNA and nifH gene sequence analyses. 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis showed that the strain ptl-3T belonged to the genus Azospirillum and was closely related to A. brasilense (98.7 % similarity) and A. rugosum (97 % similarity). 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity (96–95 %) was shown with other members of the genus Azospirillum. Major fatty acid 18:1ω7c was also similar to the genus Azospirillum. DNA–DNA relatedness value between strain ptl-3T and A. brasilense was found to be 47 %. Various biochemical tests showed that the strain ptl-3T differed from its closely related species A. brasilense. On the basis of phenotypic, chemotaxonomic and molecular genetics evidence, a bacterium with the type strain ptl-3T is proposed as a novel species of the genus Azospirillum. The name of bacterial strain ptl-3T has been proposed as Azospirillum himalayense sp. nov. The type strain of ptl-3T (CCUG 58760T, KCTC 23189T) has been submitted to two culture collection centres. The accession numbers for 16S rRNA and nifH gene are GQ 284588 and GQ 249665. respectively.