Two yellow-pigmented, Gram-stain-positive, aerobic, motile, short rod-shaped bacteria were isolated from natural teak tree rhizosphere soil and their taxonomic positions were determined by using a polyphasic approach. Comparative 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis showed that strains TG-S248 T and TG-S240 formed a distinct phyletic line within the genus Leifsonia. 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis of strain TG-S248 T with sequences from Leifsonia shinshuensis DB 102 T , L. poae VKM Ac-1401 T , L.

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... anoensis DB 103 T , L. aquatica DSM 20146 T and L. xyli subsp. cynodontis JCM 9733 T revealed pairwise similarities ranging from 98.7 to 99.1 %. The major fatty acids were anteiso-C 15 : 0 , anteiso-C 17 : 0 and iso-C 16 : 0 . The G+C content of the DNA of the type strain was 69.4 mol%. DNA-DNA hybridization experiments revealed low levels of DNA-DNA relatedness (32 % or less) between strain TG-S248 T and its closest relatives. Based on differences in phenotypic and genotypic characteristics, strain TG-S248 T (5LMG 24767 T 5JCM 15679 T ) is designated the type strain of a novel species of the genus Leifsonia, for which the name Leifsonia soli sp. nov. is proposed. Abbreviation: ACC, 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate. The GenBank/EMBL/DDBJ accession numbers for the 16S rRNA gene sequences of strains TG-S248 T and TG-S240 are EU912483 and EU912481, respectively. Carbon source utilization patterns and scanning electron micrographs are available as supplementary material with the online version of this paper.