Mesorhizobium wenxiniae sp. nov., isolated from chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) in China.

Three chickpea rhizobial strains (WYCCWR 10195T=S1-3-7, WYCCWR 10198=S1-4-3 and WYCCWR 10200=S1-5-1) isolated from Northwest China formed a group affiliated to Mesorhizobium based on 16S rRNA gene sequence comparison. To clarify their species status, multilocus sequence analysis and average nucleotide identity (ANI) values of whole genome sequences between the novel group and the type strains of the related species were further performed. Similarities of 95.7-96.6 % in the concatenated sequences of atpD-recA-glnII and 91.9-93.1 % of ANI values to the closest-related species Mesorhizobium muleiense, Mesorhizobium mediterraneum and Mesorhizobium temperatum demonstrated the novel group a unique genospecies. The most abundant fatty acid in cells of WYCCWR 10195T were C19 : 0 cyclo ω8c (51.4 %), followed by C18 : 1 ω7c 11-methyl (9.5 %) and C16 : 0 (9.3 %). Its genome size was 6.37 Mbp, comprising 6633 predicted genes with a DNA G+C content of 61.9 mol%. The similarities of 99.0-99.8 % for the nodC gene and 98.3-99.44 % for the nifH gene to those of the chickpea rhizobial species and nodulation with Cicer arietinum L. confirmed the strains of the new genospecies as symbiovar ciceri. The weak utilization of most of the tested sugars/organic acids and non-utilization of l(+)-rhamnose, l-cysteine and l-glycine as sole carbon source, tolerance to 1 % (w/v) NaCl, resistance to 5 µg ml-1 chloromycetin and non-hydrolysis of l-tyrosine distinguished the novel group from the related species and supported this group as a novel species, for which the name Mesorhizobium wenxiniae sp. nov. is proposed, with WYCCWR 10195T (=S1-3-7=HAMBI 3692T=LMG 30254T) as the type strain.