SRA

Strains isolated from effective root nodules of field-grown lentil (Lens culinaris) from different parts of Bangladesh were previously analyzed by multilocus sequence analysis, DNA fingerprinting and phenotypic characterization, which indicated that they belonged to three new clades in the genus Rhizobium. In the present study, one representative from each clade was tested by DNA-DNA hybridization, and they showed 50 – 56 % relatedness to their closest relatives (Rhizobium etli and Rhizobium phaseoli) and 50 – 60 % relatedness to each other. These results were further underpinned by average nucleotide identity values, based on genome sequencing, which were 87 – 92 % with their close relatives and 87 – 88 % with each other. On the basis of these results, three novel species, Rhizobium lentis sp. nov. (type strain BLR27T), Rhizobium bangladeshense sp. nov. (type strain BLR175T) and Rhizobium binae sp. nov. (type strain BLR195T) are proposed. These species share common nodulation genes (nodA, nodC and nodD) that are similar to those of the symbiovar viciae.