Labrys portucalensis sp. nov., a fluorobenzene-degrading bacterium isolated from an industrially contaminated sediment in northern Portugal

A detailed classification of a novel bacterial strain, designated F11^T, capable of degrading fluorobenzene as a sole carbon and energy source, was performed by using a polyphasic approach. This Gram-negative, rod-shaped, non-motile, non-spore-forming, aerobic bacterium was isolated from a sediment sample collected from an industrially contaminated site in northern Portugal. The predominant whole-cell fatty acids were C_19:0 cyclo ω8c, C_16:0, C_18:1 ω7c, C_18:0, C_18:0 3-OH and C_16:0 3-OH. The G+C content of the DNA was 62.9 mol% and the major respiratory quinone was ubiquinone 10 (UQ-10). 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis revealed that strain F11^T was a member of the class Alphaproteobacteria and was phylogenetically related to the genus Labrys, having sequence similarities of 95.6 and 93.1% to the type strains of Labrys monachus and Labrys methylaminiphilus, respectively. DNA-DNA hybridization experiments revealed levels of relatedness of <70% between strain F11^T and the type strains of L. monachus and L. methylaminiphilus (38.6 and 34.1 %, respectively), justifying the classification of strain F11^T as representing a novel species of the genus Labrys. The name Labrys portucalensis sp. nov. is proposed for this organism. The type strain is F11^T (=LMG 23412^T=DSM 17916^T).