Abstract

A bacterial strain, designated EC11T was isolated from brown alga Ecklonia cava collected from Jeju Island, Korea. EC11T was identified as a Gram-negative, rod-shaped and yellowpigmented bacterial strain. The strain EC11T grew over a temperature range of 10°C to 30°C (optimally at 25°C), and a pH range of 6.0–10.5 (optimally at pH 7.5). Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain EC11T belongs to the genus Flavobacterium. Strain EC11T shared close similarity with Flavobacterium jumunjinense HME7102T (96.4%), Flavobacterium dongtanense LW30T (95.8%), Flavobacterium haoranii LQY-7T (95.3%), and Flavobacterium urocaniciphilum (95.1%). The major fatty acids (> 5%) were iso-C17:0 3-OH (22.4%), iso-C15:0 3-OH (19.0%), C15:0 (12.4%), summed feature 3 (comprising C16:1 ω7c/ C16:1 ω6c; 9.78%), iso-C15:1 G (9.6%), and iso-C16:0 3-OH (9.0%). The DNA G+C content was 28.1 mol% and the strain contained MK-6 as the predominant menaquinone. The major polar lipids were phosphatidylethanolamine, two unknown aminolipids and three unknown polar lipids. Based on phenotypic, chemotaxonomic and phylogenetic analysis, strain EC11T represents a novel species of the Flavobacterium genus, for which the name Flavobacterium jejuensis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain of F. jejuensis is EC11T (=KCTC 42149T = JCM 30735T).

• Keywords: brown alga; Ecklonia cava; Flavobacterium; 16S rRNA gene