mesorhizobium loti mesorhizobium loti mesorhizobium loti, formerly known as rhizobium loti, is a gram negative species of bacteria found in the root nodules of many plant species. its name is a reference to lotus corniculatus, a flowering plant from which it was originally isolated. mesorhizobium loti scientific classification domain: bacteria phylum: pseudomonadota class: alphaproteobacteria order: hyphomicrobiales family: phyllobacteriaceae genus: mesorhizobium species: m. loti binomial name mesorhizobium loti(jarvis et al. 1982) jarvis et al. 1997 genetics the complete genome sequence of a strain of m. loti was determined in 2000. unusually, m. loti has two ku genes (mlr9624 and mlr9623) instead of the usual one in each bacterial species. (ku is involved in nhej repair.)