Corallococcus soli sp. Nov., a Soil Myxobacterium Isolated from Subtropical Climate, Chalus County, Iran, and Its Potential to Produce Secondary Metabolites

A novel myxobacterial strain ZKHCc1 1396(T) was isolated in 2017 from a soil sample collected along Chalus Road connecting Tehran and Mazandaran, Iran. It was a Gram-negative, rod-shaped bacterial strain that displayed the general features of Corallococcus, including gliding and fruiting body formation on agar and microbial lytic activity. Strain ZKHCc1 1396(T) was characterized as an aerobic, mesophilic, and chemoheterotrophic bacterium resistant to many antibiotics. The major cellular fatty acids were branched-chain iso-C(17:0) 2-OH, iso-C(15:0), iso-C(17:1), and iso-C(17:0). The strain showed the highest 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity to Corallococcus terminator CA054A(T) (99.67%) and C. praedator CA031B(T) (99.17%), and formed a novel branch both in the 16S rRNA gene sequence and phylogenomic tree. The genome size was 9,437,609 bp, with a DNA G + C content of 69.8 mol%. The strain had an average nucleotide identity (ANI) value lower than the species cut-off (95%), and with the digital DNA–DNA hybridization (dDDH) below the 70% threshold compared to the closest type strains. Secondary metabolite and biosynthetic gene cluster analyses revealed the strain’s potential to produce novel compounds. Based on polyphasic taxonomic characterization, we propose that strain ZKHCc1 1396(T) represents a novel species, Corallococcus soli sp. nov. (NCCB 100659(T) = CIP 111634(T)).