Vitellibacter aquimaris sp nov., a marine bacterium isolated from seawater

A Gram-staining-negative, aerobic, yellow-orange-pigmented, rod-shaped bacterium designated D-24(T) was isolated from seawater from sandy shoreline in Johor, Malaysia. The 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis revealed that strain D-24(T) is affiliated with the genus Vitellibacter. It shared more than 96% sequence similarity with the types of some of the validly published species of the genus: Vitellibacter vladivostokensis KMM 3516(T) (99.5%), Vitellibacter soesokkakensis RSSK-12(T) (97.3%), Vitellibacter echinoideorum CC-CZW007(T) (96.9%), Vitellibacter nionensis VBW088(T) (96.7%) and Vitellibacter aestuarii JCM 15496(T) (96.3%). DNA-DNA hybridization and genome-based analysis of average nucleotide identity (ANI) of strain D-24(T) versus V. vladivostokensis KMM 3516(T) exhibited values of 35.9 +/- 0.14% and 89.26 %, respectively. Strain D-24(T) showed an even lower ANI value of 80.88% with V. soesokkakensis RSSK-12(T). The major menaquinone of strain D-24(T) was MK-6, and the predominant fatty acids were iso-C-15 (:) (0) and iso-C-17 (:) (0) 3-OH. Strain D-24(T) contained major amounts of phosphatidylethanolamine, two lipids and two aminolipids, and a phosphoglycolipid that was different to that of other species of the genus Vitellibacter. The genomic DNA G+C content was 40.6 mol%. On the basis of phenotypic properties, DNA-DNA relatedness, ANI value and chemotaxonomic analyses, strain D-24(T) represents a novel species of the genus Vitellibacter, for which the name Vitellibacter aquimaris sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is D-24(T) (=KCTC 42708(T) = DSM 101732(T)).