Samsonia erythrinae gen. nov., sp nov., isolated from bark necrotic lesions of Erythrina sp., and discrimination of plant-pathogenic Enterobacteriaceae by phenotypic features

Bacterial strains isolated from diseased erythrina (Erythrina sp.) trees in Martinique (French West Indies) were studied using phenotypic tests, 16S r DNA sequence analysis and DNA-DNA hybridization, Numerical analysis of phen otypic characteristics showed that these strains formed an homogeneous phen on among plant-pathogenic Enterobacteriaceae. and gave useful and updated i nformation for the identification of these bacteria. Results of DNA-DNA hyb ridization indicated that strains from erythrina belonged to a discrete gen omospecies (89-100% hybridization) and had low levels of DNA relatedness (2 -33% hybridization) with reference strains of phytopathogenic Erwinia, Bren neria, Pectobacterium, Pantoea and Enterobacter species. 16S rDNA sequence analysis using three different methods revealed that the position of strain CFBP 5236(T) isolated from erythrina was variable in the different trees, so that strains from erythrina could not be assigned to any recognized genu s. It is proposed that these strains are included in a new genus, Samsonia. The name Samsonia erythrinae is proposed for the new species. The G+C cont ent of the DNA of the type strain, CFBP 5236(T) (= ICMP 13937(T)), is 57.0 mol%.