Pusillimonas noertemannii gen. nov., sp nov., a new member of the family Alcaligenaceae that degrades substituted salicylates

The taxonomic position of a Pseudomonas-like strain, designated BN9(T), was investigated. This strain had previously been isolated as a 5-aminosalicylate-degrading organism from a 6-aminonaphthalene-2-sulphonate-degrading mixed bacterial culture. Previously, detection of ubiquinone Q-8, a polyamine pattern with putrescine, spermidine and 2-hydroxyputrescine as the major polyamines, and partial 16S rRNA gene sequencing had suggested that strain BN9(T) belongs to the 'Betaproteobacteria'. This was supported by sequencing the 16S rRNA gene, which demonstrated 94-96% sequence similarity to different species of the genera Achromobacter, Alcaligenes and Bordetella, and suggested that strain BN9(T) represents a member of the family Alcaligenaceae. Different methods for the construction of phylogenetic dendrograms placed the strain separately from all other genera within the Alcaligenaceae. Fatty acid analysis demonstrated the presence of high concentrations of C-19:0 cyclo w8c. On the basis of low 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity to other members of the Alcaligenaceae, fatty acid and polar lipid profiles, and other unique phenotypic properties of strain BN9(T), the creation of a new genus and species with the name Pusillimonas noertemannii gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is BN9(T) (= DSM 10065(T) = NCIMB 14020(T)).