Kocuria coralli sp. nov., a novel actinobacterium isolated from coral reef seawater

An actinobacterial strain, SCSIO 13007(T), was isolated from seawater collected from the Luhuitou fringing reef at a depth of 4.2m. Phylogenetic and phenotypic properties of the organism supported the hypothesis that it represented a member of the genus Kocuria. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that the levels of 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity between SCSIO 13007(T) and type strains of other recognized members of the genus Kocuria were lower than 96.99%. Growth in the presence of up to 15% (w/v) NaCl was a distinctive characteristic of SCSIO 13007(T). Other biochemical and physiological properties and the major fatty acids also differentiated the isolate from its phylogenetically closest relative Kocuria subflava YIM 13062(T). The menaquinone types were MK-7(H-2) and MK-8(H-2). Major cellular fatty acids were anteisoC(15.0), iso-C-15:0 and anteiso-C-17:0 The polar lipids were diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, an unidentified lipid and an unidentified aminolipid. The DNA G+C content was 73.7 mol%. The combined genotypic and phenotypic data indicated that strain SCSIO 13007(T) represents a novel species of the genus Kocuria, for which the name Kocuria coralli sp. nov. is proposed: the type strain is SCSIO 13007(T) (=DSM 27811(T) =NBRC 109942(T)).