Maribacter litoralis sp. nov. a marine bacterium isolated from seashore

A novel Gram-stain-negative, moderately halophilic and aerobic bacterium, designated strain SDRB-Phe2 ^T , was isolated from coastal sediment of the yellow sea in Sindu-ri, Republic of Korea. Cells were oxidase-positive, catalase-positive, rod-shaped and surrounded by a capsule with gliding motility. Colonies were yellow-coloured, circular, pulvinate with entire margins. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain SDRB-Phe2 ^T formed a distinct lineage within the genus Maribacter of the family Flavobacteriaceae. Stain SDRB-Phe2 ^T exhibited 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity values of 97.1-98.9% to the type strains of Maribacter stanieri, Maribacter spongiicola, Maribacter forsetii, Maribacter dokdonensis, Maribacter aquivivus, Maribacter caenipelagi, Maribacter litorisediminis, Maribacter sedimenticola, Maribacter ulvicola, Maribacter confluentis and Maribacter orientalis, and of 94.8-96.7% to the type strains of the other species of the genus Maribacter. Strain SDRB-Phe2 ^T contained MK-6 as the predominant respiratory quinone and iso-C _{15: 1} G, iso-C _{15: 0} and summed feature 3 (C _{16: 1} ω7c and/or C _{16: 1} ω6c) as the major fatty acids. The polar lipids of strain SDRB-Phe2 ^T were phosphatidylethanolamine, one unidentified amino lipid and two unidentified lipids. The DNA G+C content was 36.2 mol%. DNA-DNA relatedness values of strain SDRB-Phe2 ^T to the type strains of the 11 phylogenetically related species of the genus Maribacter were 21.9-38.6 %. On the basis of the phenotypic features, phylogenetic and DNA-DNA hybridization analyses presented here, strain SDRBPhe2 ^T (=JCM 32373 ^T =KCTC 62273 ^T =DSM 106042 ^T ) represents a novel species of the genus Maribacter, for which the name Maribacter litoralis sp. nov. is proposed.