Mesorhizobium sp. Ld1326N3 isolated from the root nodules of Lessertia diffusa. Mesorhizobium sp. Ld1326N3

Rhizobial strains were obtained from the root nodules of L. diffusa following a trapping experiment and identified as Mesorhizobium strains following 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis. The Mesorhizobium strains were characterised through a genealogical concordance approach based on the maximum-likelihood phylogenies of six protein-coding gene regions (recA, atpD, glnII, dnaK, rpoB, and gyrB) and the three strains formed a congruent cluster in all single-gene phylogenies, unique from described Mesorhizobium type strains. Further characterization of the strains included a multi-locus sequence analysis (MLSA) phylogeny and various phenotypic tests. Genomic support for the proposed type strain, Ld1326N3T, included average nucleotide identity (ANI).