Eilatimonas milleporae gen. nov., sp nov., a marine bacterium isolated from the hydrocoral Millepora dichotoma

A marine bacterial strain, designated MD2(T), was isolated from the damaged tissue of a hydrocoral, Millepora dichotoma, collected from the coral reef in the northern Red Sea, Gulf of Eilat, Israel. Strain MD2(T) was Gram-reaction-negative, rod-shaped and motile, and formed small, creamy and opaque colonies, 1-2 mm in diameter, after 3 days incubation on Marine agar at 30 degrees C. The novel strain grew well in nutrient broth at 1.5-6% NaCl and at 20-37 degrees C. The major cellular fatty acids were iso-C-17:1 omega 9c, iso-C-17:0, C-18:1 omega 7c and C-17:1 omega 6c. The polar lipids consisted of phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, an unidentified lipid, two unidentified phospholipids, two unidentified glycolipids and two unidentified aminolipids. Ubiquinone Q-10 was the only respiratory lipoquinone. The DNA G+C content was 60.3 mol%. Analysis of the 16S rRNA gene sequence placed the organism in the alpha-subclass of the Proteobacteria with a sequence divergence of about 9% from any species with a validly published name. The highest 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity (approximately 91%) was notably with type strains of members of the genus Kordiimonas, Kordiimonas aestuarii 101-1(T), Kordiimonas lacus S3-22(T) and Kordiimonas gwangyangensis GW14-5(T). On the basis of genotypic, chemotaxonomic and phenotypic distinctness, strain MD2(T) represents a novel species in a new genus of the class Alphaproteobacteria, for which the name Eilatimonas milleporae gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain of the type species is MD2(T) (=LMG 26586(T)=DSM 25217(T)).