''Knoellia sinensis'' is a species of

Gram positive In bacteriology, gram-positive bacteria are bacteria that give a positive result in the Gram stain test, which is traditionally used to quickly classify bacteria into two broad categories according to their type of cell wall. Gram-positive bact ...

, nonmotile, non-sporeforming bacteria. The bacteria are aerobic and

mesophilic A mesophile is an organism that grows best in moderate temperature, neither too hot nor too cold, with an optimum growth range from . The optimum growth temperature for these organisms is 37°C. The term is mainly applied to microorganisms. Organi ...

, and the cells can be irregular rods or coccoid. It was originally isolated from an air sample from cave soil from

Reed Flute Cave The Reed Flute Cave (), also known as "the Palace of Natural Arts," is a landmark and tourist attraction in Guilin, Guangxi, China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most ...

in Guilin,

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. ''K. sinensis'' was discovered along with '' K. subterranea. The species name is derived from Latin ''sinensis'' (of China). ''K. sinensis'' is the

type strain The International Code of Nomenclature of Prokaryotes (ICNP) formerly the International Code of Nomenclature of Bacteria (ICNB) or Bacteriological Code (BC) governs the scientific names for Bacteria and Archaea.P. H. A. Sneath, 2003. A short histor ...

of the genus ''Knoellia''. The optimum growth temperature for ''K. sinensis'' is 28 °C, and cannot grow at temperatures of 37 °C or above. The optimum pH is 5.0-9.0.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q21273975 Intrasporangiaceae Bacteria described in 2002