Abstract

A novel facultatively anaerobic strain DH1T was isolated from deep sub-seafloor sediment at a depth of 900 m below the seafloor off Seo-do (the west part of Dokdo Island) in the East Sea of the Republic of Korea. The new strain was characterized using polyphasic approaches. The isolate was Gram-stain-negative, motile by gliding, non-spore-forming rods, oxidase-negative, and catalase-positive; and formed colonies of orange-red color. The NaCl range for growth was 0.5–7.0% (w/v) and no growth was observed in the absence of NaCl. The isolate grew optimally at 30°C, with 2% (w/v) NaCl and at pH 7. The cell-wall hydrolysates contained ribose as a major sugar. The DNA G+C content was 40.8 mol%. The closest related strains are Sunxiuqinia faeciviva JAM-BA0302T and Sunxiuqinia elliptica DQHS-4T (97.9 and 96.3% sequence similarity, respectively). The level of DNADNA relatedness between strain DH1T and S. faeciviva JAMBA0302T was around 41% (but only 6% between DH1T and S. elliptica DQHS-4T). The major cellular fatty acids of the isolate were contained iso-C15:0 (25.9%), anteiso-C15:0 (16.7%), and summed feature 9 (comprising C16:0 3-OH and/or unknown fatty acid of dimethylacetal ECL 17.157; 13.2%). The predominant menaquinone was MK-7. On the basis of polyphasic evidence from this study, the isolate was considered to represent a novel species of the genus Sunxiuqinia, for which the name Sunxiuqinia dokdonensis sp. nov. is proposed; the type strain is DH1T (=KCTC 32503T =CGMCC 1.12676T =JCM 19380T).

• Keywords: Sunxiuqinia dokdonensis; 16S rRNA; taxonomy; Dokdo; Sub-seafloor; Bacteroidetes