Cold-shock gene cspC in the genome of Massilia polaris sp. nov. revealed cold-adaptation

A straw coloured, motile and Gram-stain-negative bacterium, designated RP-1-19 T was isolated from soil of Arctic station, Svalbard, Norway. Based on the phylogenetic analysis of its 16S rRNA gene sequence, strain RP-1-19 T formed a lineage within the family Oxalobacteraceae and clustered together within the genus Massilia . The closest members were M. violaceinigra B2 T (98.6% sequence similarity), M. eurypsychrophilia JCM 30074 T (98.3%) and M. atriviolacea SOD T (98.1%). The only respiratory quinone was ubiquinone-8. The principal cellular fatty acids were summed feature 3 (iso-C 15:0 2-OH/C 16:1 ω 7 c ) and C 16:0 . The major polar lipids were phosphatidylethanolamine, diphosphatidylglycerol and phosphatidylglycerol. The DNA G + C content of the type strain was 63.2%. The average nucleotide identity and in silico DNA–DNA hybridization values between strain RP-1-19 T and closest members were ≤ 80 and 23.2%, respectively. The genome was 4,522,469 bp long with 30 scaffolds and 4076 protein-coding genes. The genome showed eight putative biosynthetic gene clusters responsible for various secondary metabolites. Genome analysis revealed the presence of cold-shock proteins CspA and CspC. Presence of cspA and cspC genes in the genome manifest ecophysiology of strain RP-1-19 T that may help in cold-adaptation. Based on these data, strain RP-1-19 T represents a novel species in the genus Massilia , for which the name Massilia polaris sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is RP-1-19 T (= KACC 21619 T = NBRC 114359 T ).