Marinobacter piscensis sp. nov., a Moderately Halophilic Bacterium Isolated from Salty Food in Tunisia

An aerobic, Gram-negative, moderately halophilic bacterium, oxidase, and catalase positive-designated Abdou3T, was isolated from salted traditional foods (Anchovies) in Tunisia. Cells were rod-shaped, non-spore-forming and motile. Growth occurred at 15–45 °C (optimum, 37 °C), pH 5.5–8.75 (optimum, 7.3), and in the presence of 1–15 % NaCl (optimum, 10 %). Strain Abdou3T used glucose, d-arabinose, and sucrose. Strain Abdou3T had Q9 as the major respiratory quinone and C18:1ω9c and C16:0 as predominant fatty acids. The DNA G+C content was 55.2 mol%. Phylogenetic analysis of the small-subunit ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene sequence indicated that strain Abdou3T had as its closest relative Marinobacter maritimus (identity of 96 %). Based on phenotypic, phylogenetic, and taxonomic characteristics, strain Abdou3T is proposed as a novel species of the genus Marinobacter within the order Alteromonadales, for which the name M. piscensis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is Abdou3T (=DSM 26804T).