Cellulomonas terrae sp nov., a cellulolytic and xylanolytic bacterium isolated from soil

A bacterial strain (DB5(T)), with polysaccharide-degrading activities, was isolated from garden soil in Daejeon, Republic of Korea. The cells were Gram-positive, aerobic or facultatively anaerobic, non-motile straight rods. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that this strain belongs to the genus Cellulomonas and that it is most closely related to Cellulomonas xylanilytica LMG 21723(T) and Cellulomonas humilata ATCC 25174(T) (98.0 and 97.9% similarity, respectively). Chemotaxonomic data also supported the classification of strain DB5(T) in the genus Cellulomonas, i.e. L-ornithine as the cell-wall diamino acid, anteiso-C-15:0 and iso-C-15:0 as the major fatty acids, MK-9(H-4) as the predominant menaquinone and the presence of diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol and phosphatidylinositol mannosides in the polar lipid profile. The results of DNA-DNA hybridization in combination with chemotaxonomic and physiological data demonstrated that strain DB5(T) (= KCTC 19081(T) = NBRC 100819(T)) should be classified as the type strain of a novel species within the genus Cellulomonas, for which the name Cellulomonas terrae sp. nov. is proposed.