Abstract

A strictly aerobic, red-pigmented, non-motile, catalase- and oxidase-positive, Gram-staining-negative bacterium, designated strain CNURIC011T, was isolated from seawater off the coast of Jeju Island in Korea. A phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain CNURIC011T belongs to the genus Aquimarina in the family Flavobacteriaceae. 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis revealed that the close relatives of the novel strain are Aquimarina latercula ATCC 23177T, Aquimarina marcrocephali JAMB N27T, Aquimarina intermedia KMM 6258T, Aquimarina muelleri KMM 6020T, and Aquimarina brevivitae SMK-19T, with sequence similarities of 97.6, 96.6, 96.0, 95.6, and 94.2%, respectively. DNA-DNA hybridization revealed that the level of relatedness between strain CNURIC011T and Aquimarina latercula ATCC 23177T (=KCTC 2912T) was 4.9%. The DNA G+C content was 35.8 mol% and the major respiratory quinone was MK-6. The major fatty acids were iso-C15:0 (14.9%), C15:0 (13.9%), iso-C17:0 3-OH (12.6%), iso-C15:1 G (7.3%), and iso-C17:1 ω9c (7.2%). On the basis of phenotypic, phylogenetic, and genotypic data, strain CNURIC011T represents a novel species within the genus Aquimarina, for which the name Aquimarina litoralis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is CNURIC011T (=KCTC 22614T =JCM 15974T).

• Keywords: Aquimarina litoralis sp. nov.; Flavobacteriaceae; taxonomy; seawater