[2][3] The results of phylogenetic and genome-based analyses clearly suggest that S. olei belongs to the genus Sphingobacterium and represents a novel species.

For example, unlike S. alkalisoli, S. olei are positive for oxidase, catalase, and glucose fermentation activities, while negative for nitrate reduction and indole production.

For example, S. olei has fewer genes that are putatively involved in cofactors, vitamins, prosthetic groups, pigments, cell wall and capsule, and phosphorus metabolism compared to S. alkalisoli.

Sphingobacterium olei is resistant to antibiotics including chloromycetin, kanamycin, polymyxin B, streptomycin, amikacin, gentamicin, lincomycin, novobiocin and neomycin.

[1] Sphingobacterium olei, initially designated as strain HAL-9T, was first isolated from an oil-contaminated soil sample collected from farmland near an oilfield in northern China.

Previous studies revealed that the initial degradation step of these compounds was by hydrolysis, and S. olei has shown to possess a large number of hydrolase genes.

[7][8] The inability of S. olei to utilize petroleum hydrocarbons in farmland soil can be explained by its lack of alkane monooxygenase and aromatic ring-cleavage dioxygenase genes.

On the other hand, the diversity of hydrolase genes in the genome of S. olei enabled the degradation of herbicides as its energy and carbon sources and thus survive in the farmland environment.