Description of Gluconacetobacter sacchari sp nov., a new species of aceticacid bacterium isolated from the leaf sheath of sugar cane and from the pink sugar-cane mealy bug

A new species of the genus Gluconacetobacter, for which the name Gluconacet obacter sacchari sp. nov. is proposed, was isolated from the leaf sheath of sugar cane and from the pink sugar-cane mealy bug, Saccharicoccus sacchari , found on sugar cane growing in Queensland and northern New South Wales, A ustralia, The nearest phylogenetic relatives in the alpha-subclass of the P roteobacteria are Gluconacetobacter liquefaciens and Gluconacetobacter diaz otrophicus, which have 98.8-99.3% and 97.9-98.5% 16S rDNA sequence similari ty, respectively, to members of Gluconacetobacter sacchari. On the basis of the phylogenetic positioning of the strains, DNA reassociation studies, ph enotypic tests and the presence of the Q10 ubiquinone, this new species was assigned to the genus Gluconacetobacter. No single phenotypic characterist ic is unique to the species, but the species can be differentiated phenotyp ically from closely related members of the acetic acid bacteria by growth i n the presence of 0.01% malachite green, growth on 30% glucose, an inabilit y to fix nitrogen and an inability to grow with the L-amino acids asparagin e, glycine, glutamine, threonine and tryptophan when D-mannitol was supplie d as the sole carbon and energy source. The type strain of this species is strain SRI 1794(T) (= DSM 12717(T)).