Aestuariicoccus marinus gen. nov., sp nov., isolated from sea-tidal flat sediment

A Gram-stain-negative, strictly aerobic and halotolerant bacterial strain, designated strain NAP41(T), was isolated from a sea tidal flat in the Yellow Sea of South Korea. Cells were non-motile cocci showing oxidase-and catalase-positive activities. Growth of strain NAP41(T) was observed at 15-40 degrees C (optimum, 37 degrees C), at pH 6.5-9.0 (optimum, pH 7.0-7.5) and in the presence of 0.5-12% (w/v) NaCl (optimum, 2 %). Strain NAP41(T) contained summed feature 8 (comprising C-18:omega 7c/C-18:1 omega 6c) and C-18:0 as the major fatty acids and ubiquinone-10 as the sole isoprenoid quinone. Phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylethanolamine, an unidentified aminolipid and three unidentified lipids were detected as the polar lipids. The G+C content of the genomic DNA was 56.0 mol%. Strain NAP41(T) was most closely related to Primorskyibacter insulae SSK3-2(T), Thalassococcus lentus YCS-24(T) and Roseivivax lentus DSM 29430(T) with 96.67, 96.39 and 96.39% 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities, respectively, and formed a phylogenetic lineage distinct from closely related taxa within the family Rhodobacteraceae with low bootstrap values. On the basis of phenotypic, chemotaxonomic and molecular properties, strain NAP41(T) represents a novel species of a novel genus of the family Rhodobacteraceae, for which the name Aestuariicoccus marinus gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain of the type species is NAP41(T) (KACC 18431(T) = JCM 30739(T)).