Pontibacter litorisediminis sp nov., isolated from a tidal flat

A Gram-stain-negative, aerobic, non-flagellated, motile by gliding and ovoid or rod-shaped bacterial strain, designated YKTF-7(T), was isolated from a tidal flat sediment on the Yellow Sea, South Korea. Strain YKTF-7(T) grew optimally at pH 7.0-8.0, at 30-37 degrees C and in the presence of 0.5-2.0% (w/v) NaCl. A neighbour-joining phylogenetic tree based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain YKTF-7(T) fell within the clade comprising the type strains of species of the genus Pontibacter, clustering with the type strains of Pontibacter odishensis and Pontibacter korlensis with which it exhibited 98.0-98.7% sequence similarity. Strain YKTF-7(T) exhibited 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities of 94.7-96.8% to the type strains of the other species of the genus Pontibacter and of less than 91.7% to those of other recognized species. Strain YKTF-7(T) contained MK-7 as the predominant menaquinone and summed feature 4 (iso-C-17 : 1 I and/or anteiso-C-17 : 1 B) and iso-C-15 : 0 as the major fatty acids. The major polar lipids were phosphatidylethanolamine and two unidentified lipids. The DNA G+C content of strain YKTF-7(T) was 54.0 mol%, and its mean DNA-DNA relatedness values with the type strains of P. odishensis and P. korlensis were 25 and 14 %, respectively. Differential phenotypic properties, together with the phylogenetic and genetic distinctiveness, revealed that strain YKTF-7(T) is separated from recognized species of the genus Pontibacter. On the basis of the data presented, strain YKTF-7(T) is considered to represent a novel species of the genus Pontibacter, for which the name Pontibacter litorisediminis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is YKTF-7(T) (= KCTC 52252(T) = NBRC 112298(T)).