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Incoming links: Sphingomonas paucimobilis
Sphingomonas 2026-11-05
Sphingomonas is a taxonomic genus of bacteria. Its type species is Sphingomonas paucimobilis; the genus name is validly published in the prokaryotic naming system. A bacterial strain, an individual species and the genus are different levels of identification.[ref]
A2011 experiment made that distinction consequential. Researchers grew Arabidopsis thaliana with or without candidate bacterial colonists, then challenged the plants with the leaf pathogen Pseudomonas syringae. Many plant-derived Sphingomonas isolates reduced both disease symptoms and pathogen growth. Isolates obtained from air, dust or water did not necessarily protect, even at comparable bacterial densities on the plant.[ref]
Protection of Arabidopsis thaliana against leaf-pathogenic Pseudomonas syringae by Sphingomonas strains in a controlled model system by Gerd Innerebner and others. Abstract, controlled challenge and isolate-source comparison
The experiment distinguishes colonization from a protective function. Finding a Sphingomonas sequence or a high bacterial count does not by itself show disease suppression. A controlled comparison needs the particular bacterial strain, host and outcome. Differences in carbon-source use suggested competition as one possible mechanism, but did not exclude other explanations.[ref]
Protection of Arabidopsis thaliana against leaf-pathogenic Pseudomonas syringae by Sphingomonas strains in a controlled model system by Gerd Innerebner and others. Abstract, metabolic profiling and mechanistic qualification
Sphingomonas paucimobilis 2026-11-05
Sphingomonas paucimobilis is a species of bacteria and the type species of Sphingomonas. It was formerly named
Pseudomonas paucimobilis; the current combination transfers the species to a different taxonomic genus. The two names are tied to the same nomenclatural type, rather than denoting two newly discovered organisms.[ref]The 1990 proposal used several kinds of molecular evidence: partial 16S ribosomal RNA sequences, cellular glycolipids of the sphingolipid family, and the predominant ubiquinone Q10. Combining sequence comparisons with chemical composition supplied a stronger basis for the proposed genus than resemblance under one observation alone.[ref]
The type strain has deposits including ATCC29837, DSM1098 and NCTC11030.[ref] These different collection codes illustrate why the identifier and its collection must travel together: three codes can refer to reference cultures of one strain, rather than three species. A separate environmental isolate needs its own identification evidence. Likewise, a protective effect measured for some other Sphingomonas isolate should not be assigned to Sphingomonas paucimobilis solely because the genus names match.