Pseudahrensia aquimaris gen. nov., sp nov., isolated from seawater

A Gram-negative, non-motile, ovoid to rod-shaped bacterium, designated HDW-32(T), was isolated from seawater of the Yellow Sea, Korea. Strain HDW-32(T) grew optimally at pH 7-8, at 30 degrees C and with 2-3% (w/v) NaCI. Strain HDW-32(T) exhibited 95.1% 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity with Nitratireductor basaltis J3(T), 94.8% sequence similarity with Ahrensia kielensis IAM 12618(T) and <94.5 % with other members of the family Phyllobacteriaceae. In the neighbour-joining, maximum-likelihood and maximum-parsimony trees based on 16S rRNA gene sequences, strain HDW-(32T) clustered with A. kielensis IAM 12618(T). Strain HDW-32(T) contained Q-10 as the predominant ubiquinone and C-18 : (1)omega 7c as the major fatty acid. Differences in polar lipids, DNA G+C content and other phenotypic properties distinguished strain HDW-32(T) from A. kielensis JCM 20689(T). Strain HDW-32(T) could also be distinguished from representatives of the genera Nitratireductor and Hoe flea by differences in fatty acids and polar lipids. On the basis of phylogenetic, chemotaxonomic and phenotypic data, strain HDW-32(T) represents a novel species belonging to a novel genus of the family Phyllobacteriaceae of the class Alphaproteobacteria, for which the name Pseudahrensia aquimaris gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain of the type species is HDW-32(T) (=KCTC 23345(T) =CCUG 60023(T)).