Phycicoccus sonneraticus sp. nov., a Novel Endophytic Actinobacterium Isolated from the Bark of Sonneratia apetala

A novel endophytic actinobacterial strain, designated MQZ13P-5 T , was isolated from a piece of bark of Sonneratia apetala , collected from Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China. This strain was Gram-stain positive, aerobic, non-spore-forming, non-motile and rod-shaped. Comparative 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis showed that strain MQZ13P-5 T was related to the genus Phycicoccus with exhibiting the highest similarity (98.0%) to Phycicoccus endophyticus IP6SC6 T . The phylogenetic trees based on 16S rRNA gene sequences and core genes indicated that strain MQZ13P-5 T belonged to the genus Phycicoccus and could not be assigned to any described species. The average nucleotide identity (ANI) and digital DNA-DNA hybridization (dDDH) values between strain MQZ13P-5 T and type strains of Phycicoccus species were less than 84% and 27%, respectively, below the thresholds for species delineation. This strain showed chemotaxonomic and phenotypic properties consistent with its classification in the genus Phycicoccus . Based on the taxonomic data, strain MQZ13P-5 T should represent a novel species of the genus Phycicoccus , for which the name Phycicoccus sonneraticus sp. nov. is proposed, with the type strain MQZ13P-5 T (= CGMCC 1.18744 T = JCM 34337 T ).