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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Invasive Insect Biocontrol & Behavior Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #333704
Research Project: Urban Small Farms and Gardens Pest Management

Location: Invasive Insect Biocontrol & Behavior Laboratory

Title: Chromobacterium sphagni sp. nov., an insecticidal bacterium isolated from Sphagnum bogs

Author
item Blackburn, Michael - Mike
item Farrar, Robert
item Sparks, Michael
item Kuhar, Daniel
item Mitchell, Ashaki - Teddi
item Gundersen-Rindal, Dawn

Submitted to: International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/2/2017
Publication Date: 8/22/2017
Citation: Blackburn, M.B., Farrar, R.R., Sparks, M., Kuhar, D.J., Mitchell, A.D., Gundersen, D.E. 2017. Chromobacterium muskegensis sp. nov., an insecticidal bacterium isolated from Sphagnum bogs. International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology. 67(9):3417-3422.

Interpretive Summary: A new species of insecticidal bacteria has been discovered in Sphagnum bogs from the northeastern US. The new species, named Chromobacterium muskegensis, produces natural products that are toxic to pest moths like the diamondback and gypsy moths. The new species will be of interest to organic growers, companies that produce natural insecticides for the organic market, and scientists prospecting for new species of bacteria for use in biological insect control.

Technical Abstract: Sixteen isolates of Gram-negative, motile, violet-pigmented bacteria were isolated from Sphagnum bogs in West Virginia and Maine, USA. 16S rDNA sequences and fatty acid analysis (FAME) revealed a high degree of relatedness among the isolates, and genomic sequencing of two isolates, IIBBL 14B-1 and IIBBL 37-2 (from West Virginia and Maine, respectively), revealed highly similar genomic sequences. The average nucleotide identity (gANI) calculated for these two isolates was found to be in excess of 99%, but the gANI did not exceed 87% when comparing either isolate with genomic sequences of C. violaceum ATCC 12472, C. haemolyticum DSM19808, C. piscinae ND17, C. subtsugae PRAA4-1, C. vaccinii MWU205 or C. amazonense CBMAI 310. Collectively, gANI and 16S comparisons suggested that isolates IIBBL 14B-1 and IIBBL 37-2 were most closely related to C. subtsugae, but represented a distinct taxon. We propose the name Chromobacterium muskegensis sp. nov. for this taxon; the type strain is IIBBL 14B-1T (= NRRL B-67130T).