Erythrobacter seohaensis sp nov and Erythrobacter gaetbuli sp nov., isolated from a tidal flat of the Yellow Sea in Korea

Two Gram-negative, non-spore-forming, slightly halophilic strains, SW-135(T) and SW-161(T), which were isolated from a tidal flat of the Yellow Sea in Korea, were subjected to a polyphasic taxonomic study. The two isolates lacked bacteriochlorophyll a and contained ubiquinone-10 (Q-10) as the predominant respiratory lipoquinone and C(18:1)omega7c and C(17:1)omega6c as the major fatty acids. The DNA G+C contents of strains SW-135(T) and SW-161(T) were 62(.)2 and 64(.)5 mol%, respectively. Phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that the two strains fall within the radiation of the cluster comprising Erythrobacter species. Strains SW-135(T) and SW-161(T) exhibited a 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity value of 96(.)9% and a mean DNA-DNA relatedness level of 12(.)3%. Sequence similarities between strains SW-135(T) and SW-161(T) and the type strains of recognized Erythrobacter species ranged from 96(.)7 to 98(.)5%. Levels of DNA-DNA relatedness were low enough to indicate that strains SW-135(T) and SW-161(T) represent members of two species separate from all recognized Erythrobacter species. On the basis of polyphasic taxonomic data, strains SW-135(T) (=KCTC 12228(T)=DSM 16221(T)) and SW-161(T) (=KCTC 12227(T) =DSM 16225(T)) were classified as two novel Erythrobacter species, for which the names Erythrobacter seohaensis sp. nov. and Erythrobacter gaetbuli sp. nov. are proposed, respectively.