A Gram-staining-negative, yellow-coloured, strictly aerobic, non-spore-forming, rod-shaped bacterium, designated HS39 T , isolated from a soil sample collected from a natural Populus euphratica forest in Xinjiang, China, was characterized using a polyphasic approach. The isolate grew optimally at 30-37 6C, at pH 6.5-8.0 and with 0-3 % NaCl. Analysis of the 16S rRNA gene sequence of strain HS39 T revealed that it is a member of the genus Sphingobacterium. Sphingobacterium mizutaii ATCC 33299 T

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... s the nearest relative (94.0 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity). The G+C content of the genomic DNA was 40.2 mol%. The major fatty acids were iso-C 15 : 0 , iso-C 17 : 0 3-OH and summed feature 3 (comprising C 16 : 1 v6c and/or C 16 : 1 v7c). The predominant isoprenoid quinone was MK-7. On the basis of phenotypic properties and phylogenetic inference, strain HS39 T represents a novel species of the genus Sphingobacterium, for which the name Sphingobacterium shayense sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is HS39 T (5CCTCC AB 209006 T 5NRRL B-59203 T ).