Table 1. Classification and general features of E. medicae WSM419 according to the MIGS recommendations [16].

MIGS ID	Property	Term	Evidence code
	Current classification	Domain Bacteria	TAS [17]
		Phylum Proteobacteria	TAS [18]
		Class Alphaproteobacteria	TAS [19,20]
		Order Rhizobiales	TAS [20,21]
		Family Rhizobiaceae	TAS [22,23]
		Genus Ensifer	TAS [1,2,24-27]
		Species Ensifer medicae	TAS [1,2,11,24-28]
		strain WSM419
	Gram stain	negative	TAS [29]
	Cell shape	rod	TAS [29]
	Motility	motile	TAS [29]
	Sporulation	non-sporulating	TAS [29]
	Temperature range	mesophile	TAS [29]
	Optimum temperature	28°C	TAS [29]
	Salinity	unknown
MIGS-22	Oxygen requirement	aerobic	TAS [29]
	Carbon source	galactose, arabinose, glutamate	TAS [9,13]
	Energy source	chemoorganotroph	TAS [9,13]
MIGS-6	Habitat	Soil, root nodule, host	TAS [9]
MIGS-15	Biotic relationship	Free living or symbiotic	TAS [9]
MIGS-14	Pathogenicity	none	TAS [16]
	Biosafety level	1	TAS [30]
	Isolation	Medicago murex root nodule	TAS [9]
MIGS-4	Geographic location	Forestry Station 7 km south    of Tempio, Sardinia, Italy	TAS [9]
MIGS-5	Nodule collection date	May 1st, 1981	TAS [31]
MIGS-4.1 MIGS-4.2	Longitude   Latitude	9.101915    40.888925	TAS [31]
MIGS-4.3	Depth	<10 cm	TAS [31]
MIGS-4.4	Altitude	350m	TAS [31]

Evidence codes - IDA: Inferred from Direct Assay (first time in publication); TAS: Traceable Author Statement (i.e., a direct report exists in the literature); NAS: Non-traceable Author Statement (i.e., not directly observed for the living, isolated sample, but based on a generally accepted property for the species, or anecdotal evidence). These evidence codes are from the Gene Ontology project [32]. If the evidence code is IDA, then the property was directly observed for a living isolate by one of the authors or an expert mentioned in the acknowledgements.