Spongiibacter thalassae sp. nov., a marine gammaproteobacterium isolated from seawater

A bacterium, designated as KMU-166(T), belonging to the class Gammaproteobacteria, was isolated from seawater collected on the coastline of Dadaepo, Republic of Korea. Strain KMU-166(T) was Gram-staining-negative, ovoid-shaped, motile, strictly aerobic, beige-colored, catalase-positive, and oxidase-negative; and had a chemoorganoheterotrophic metabolism. The novel isolate was found to grow at 1-4% NaCl concentrations (w/v), pH 6.5-9.5, and 10-40 degrees C. The 16S rRNA gene sequence-based phylogeny showed that strain KMU-166(T) affiliates to the family Spongiibacteraceae and that it shared the greatest sequence similarity (96.4%) with Spongiibactermarinus HAL40b(T). The main (> 10%) cellular fatty acids were summed feature 3 (C16:1 omega 7c and/or C16:1 omega 6c), C17:1 omega 8c, and C18:1 omega 7c. The predominant respiratory quinone was ubiquinone-8 (Q-8). Strain KMU-166(T) comprised phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol, diphosphatidylglycerol, and two unidentified lipids. The assembled draft genome was 4.40 Mbp in size with a DNA G+C content of 55.7%. The average nucleotide identity, digital DNA-DNA hybridization, and average amino acid identity values of KMU-166(T) and Spongiibacter marinus HAL40b(T), Spongiibacter tropicus CL-CB221(T), and Spongiibacter pelagi KMU-158(T) were found to be 77.7-79.8%, 13.7-15.4%, and 66.1-70.9%, respectively. From the distinguishable polyphasic taxonomic results obtained, the strain is considered to represent a novel species of the genus Spongiibacter for which the name Spongiibacter thalassae sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain of S. thalassae sp. nov. is KMU-166(T) (= KCCM 90449(T) = NBRC 114308(T)).

Automated summary

A new bacterium, designated as Spongiibacter thalassae sp. nov., belonging to the class Gammaproteobacteria, was isolated from seawater collected on the coastline of Dadaepo, Republic of Korea. The newly discovered strain exhibits specific morphological and physiological characteristics and shares high similarity with Spongiibactermarinus HAL40b(T).