Abstract
A Gram-stain-positive, lactic acid bacterium, strain Ru20-1(T), was isolated from a flower (West-Indian jasmine) collected from Kalasin province, Thailand. A polyphasic approach was used to determine the taxonomic position of this strain. Studies of morphological and biochemical characteristics revealed that strain Ru20-1(T) belonged to the genus Lactobacillus. The strain was heterofermentative, non-spore-forming and rod-shaped. It produced DL-lactic acid. Based on 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity, this strain was closely related to Lactobacillus lindneri LMG 145281 (96.8 %), Lactobacillus sanfranciscensis NRIC 1548(T) (95.4 %) and Lactobacillus florum NRIC 0771(T) (95.2 %), respectively. In addition, the pheS gene sequence of strain Ru20-1(T) was closely related to those of L. sanfranciscensis NRIC 1548(T) (92.0 %), L. lindneri LMG 14528(T) (89.0 %) and L. forum NRIC 0771(T)(85.0 %). Phylogenetic analysis indicated that strain Ru20-1(T) was clearly separated from closely related species of the genus Lactobacillus. The DNA G+C content of strain Ru20-1(T) was 47.8 mol %. The cell-wall peptidoglycan type was L-Lys D-Asp. The major cellular fatty acids were C-18:1 omega 9c, C-20:0, C-20:1 omega 9C and summed feature 7 (unknown 18.846 and/or C-19:1 omega 6c and/or C-19:0 cyclo). On the basis of the data provided, strain Ru20-1(T) represents a novel species of the genus Lactobacillus, for which the name Lactobacillus ixorae sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is Ru20-1(T) (=LMG 29008(T)=NBRC 111239(T)=PCU 346(T)=TISTR 2381(T)).
