Rheinheimera maricola sp. nov., isolated from seawater of the Yellow Sea

A Gram-negative and facultative aerobic strain, designated as strain MA-13(T), was isolated from seawater in the Yellow Sea Republic of Korea. Cells were oxidase- and catalase-positive and non-motile short rods. Growth of strain MA-13(T) was observed over a range of 10-37 degrees C (optimum, 30 degrees C), pH 6.0-11.0 (optimum, pH 7.0) and in the presence of 0-5.5% (w/v) sodium chloride (optimum, 1.0-2.0%). Strain MA-13(T) contained ubiquinone-8 as the respiratory quinone, phosphatidylethanolamine, an unidentified aminolipid, an unidentified phospholipid and four unidentified lipids as major polar lipids and C-16:0, C-12:0 3-OH and summed feature 3 (C-16:1 omega 7c and/or C-16:1 omega 6c) as major cellular fatty acids. The G+C content of the genomic DNA was 48.3mol%. Phylogenetic analyses based on the 16S rRNA gene and whole-genome sequences revealed that strain MA-13(T) formed a distinct phyletic lineage in the genus Rheinheimera. Strain MA-13(T) was most closely related to Rheinheimera lutimaris YQF-2(T), Rheinheimera aquimaris SW-353(T), Rheinheimera pacifica KMM 1406(T) and Rheinheimera baltica DSM 14885(T) with 98.10, 98.08, 98.07 and 97.94% 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities. Average nucleotide identity and DNA-DNA hybridization values between strain MA-13(T) and R. aquimaris KCTC 12840(T), R. pacifica DSM 17616(T) and R. baltica DSM 14885(T) were 76.3, 78.6 and 76.9% and 19.5, 21.3 and 20.5%, respectively. Based on the phenotypic, chemotaxonomic and molecular features, strain MA-13(T) represents a novel species of the genus Rheinheimera, for which the name Rheinheimera maricola sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is MA-13(T) (=KACC 22113T=JCM 34600(T)).

Automated summary

A new species of the genus Rheinheimera, named Rheinheimera maricola, was isolated from seawater in the Yellow Sea. This strain exhibited specific growth characteristics under various temperature, pH, and sodium chloride conditions, and possessed unique cell membrane composition and genomic features.