A novel bacterial strain designated TOUT106T was isolated from the surface of a tomato collected from the local vegetable market in Pune, India. The cells were rod shaped, Gram-stain-negative, encapsulated and non-motile. The strain TOUT106T grows as mucoid and translucent colonies on blood agar medium and the best growth was observed at 28 C and at pH 7.0, and could tolerate up to 2% (w/v) NaCl. On the basis of 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, strain TOUT106T was placed under Salmonella clade, with close similarity to Salmonella enterica subsp. arizonae strain NCTC 8297T (98.64%). Genome-based phylogenetic analysis revealed that the strain forms a distinct branch within the Klebsiella clade and K. michiganensis DSM25444T and K. oxytoca NBRC105695T were the closest neighbors. The genomic DNA G+C content of strain TOUT106T was 53.53 mol%. The average nucleotide identity of TOUT106T was less 86.4% with closely related members of the family Enterobacteriaceae. The major fatty acids of strain TOUT106T were C16:0, C17:0 cyclo, C14:0 3OH/C16:1 iso, C14:0, C19:0 cyclo w8c, C18:1 w6c/C18:1 w7c, C12:0 and C16:1 w7c/C16:1 w6c. The strain TOUT106T showed differences in physiological, phenotypic and protein profiles by MALDI-TOF MS to its closest relatives. Based on the phenotypic including chemotaxonomic properties and phylogenetic analysis the strain TOUT106T could be distinguished from the recognized species of the genus Klebsiella, was suggested to represent a novel species of this genus, for which the name Klebsiella indica sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is TOUT106T (=MCC 2901T).

Description of Klebsiella indica sp. nov., isolated from the surface of tomato.