Abstract

During a study of the marine actinobacterial biodiversity, a large number of Brevibacterium strains were isolated. Of these, five that have relatively low 16S rRNA gene similarity (98.5– 99.3%) with validly published Brevibacterium species, were chosen to determine taxonomic positions. On the basis of 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis and BOX-PCR fingerprinting, strains o2T, YB235T, and WO024T were selected as representative strains. Genomic analyses, including average nucleotide identity (ANI) and digital DNA-DNA hybridization (dDDH), clearly differentiated the three strains from each other and from their closest relatives, with values ranging from 82.8% to 91.5% for ANI and from 26.7% to 46.5% for dDDH that below the threshold for species delineation. Strains YB235T, WO024T, and o2T all exhibited strong and efficient decolorization activity in congo red (CR) dyes, moderate decolorization activity in toluidine blue (TB) dyes and poor decolorization in reactive blue (RB) dyes. Genes coding for peroxidases and laccases were identified and accounted for these strains’ ability to effectively oxidize a variety of dyes with different chemical structures. Mining of the whole genome for secondary metabolite biosynthesis gene clusters revealed the presence of gene clusters encoding for bacteriocin, ectoine, NRPS, siderophore, T3PKS, terpene, and thiopeptide. Based on the phylogenetic, genotypic and phenotypic data, strains o2T, YB235T and WO024T clearly represent three novel taxa within the genus Brevibacterium, for which the names Brevibacterium limosum sp. nov. (type strain o2T = JCM 33844T = MCCC 1A09961T), Brevibacterium pigmenatum sp. nov. (type strain YB235T = JCM 33843T = MCCC 1A09842T) and Brevibacterium atlanticum sp. nov. (type strain WO024T = JCM 33846T = MCCC 1A16743T) are proposed.

• Keywords: alanine aminotransferase;alcohol;alcohol dehydrogenase;aldehyde dehydrogenase;hangover;probiotic