Noviherbaspirillum aridicola sp. nov., isolated from an arid soil in Pakistan.

Strain NCCP-691 ^T was isolated from a soil sample collected from an arid soil in Karak, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Phenotypically, the cells were Gram-stain-negative, aerobic and motile rods. The organism was able to grow between 20-40 °C (optimum at 30-37 °C), at pH 5.5-8.0 (optimum at pH 7.0-7.2) and tolerated 0-1.5% NaCl (w/v) (optimum at 0-0.5). Based on 16S rRNA gene sequences, strain NCCP-691 ^T formed a distinct phylogenetic clade with Noviherbaspirillum arenae , N . agri , N . denitrificans and N . autotrophicum (having sequence similarities of 99.0; 98.1; 98.0 and 97.7% respectively). Phylogenetic analyses based on the whole genome sequences confirmed that strain NCCP-691 ^T should be affiliated to the genus Noviherbaspirillum . The average nucleotide identity values compared to other species of Noviherbaspirillum were below 95-96 % and digital DNA-DNA hybridization values were less than 70 %. Chemotaxonomic analyses showed that the strain had ubiquinone-8, as the only respiratory quinine. The major cellular fatty acids were summed feature 3 (C _16 : 1  ω 7  c /C _16 : 1  ω 6 c, 35.9 %), summed feature 8 (C _18 : 1  ω 7  c /C _18 : 1  ω 6 c, 26.9 %) and C _16 : 0 (22.9 %) and the polar lipid profile was composed of diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine and phosphatidylcholine. The genomic DNA G+C content was 65.5 mol% (from draft genome). Genome analyses showed that strain NCCP-691 ^T had terpene and arylpolyene biosynthetic genes clusters and genes related to resistance against heavy metals. Based on phylogenetic analyses, phenotypic features and genomic comparison, it is proposed that strain NCCP-691 ^T is a novel species of the genus Noviherbaspirillum and the name Noviherbaspirillum aridicola sp. nov. is proposed. Type strain is NCCP-691 ^T (=KCTC 52721 ^T =CGMCC 1.13600 ^T ).