Oceanisphaera donghaensis sp. nov., a halophilic bacterium from the East Sea, Korea

Abstract

A taxonomic study was carried out on two isolateds, strains BL1T and BL11, from marine sediment collected from the East Sea, Korea. Comparative 16S rRNA gene sequence studies showed that these isolated clearly affiliated with the Gammaproteobacteria. BL1T and BL11 were most closely related to Oceanisphaera itoralis KMM3654 (97.6 and 97.7 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity, respectively). The level of 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity between strains BL1T and BL11 was 99.7%. The two isolates wre gram-gegative, aerobic, moderately halophilic, and grew in 0.5-8.0 % NaCl and at 4-4.2 oC. Strains BL1 and BL11 shared some physiological dna biochemical properties with O. litoralis KMM3654, althrough they differ in that BL1 and BL11 were able to utilize ethanol, proline and alanine. The G+C contents of the genomic DNA of of strains BL1 and BL11 were 56.6 and 57.1 mol %, respectively. Both strains possessed C16:1 w7c and/or iso-C15:0 2-OH, C16:0 and C18:1 w7c as the major fatty acids. DNA_DNA relatedness data indicated that strains BL1 and BL11 represent a genomic species that is separate from O litoralis KMM3654. On the basis of polyphasic evidence, it is proposed that strain BL1 (=KCTC12522=DSM17589) respresents the type strain of a novel species, oceanisphaera donghaensis sp. nov