Aquimarina agarivorans sp. nov., a genome-sequenced member of the class Flavobacteriia isolated from Gelidium amansii.

Abstract

A novel Gram-stain-negative, facultatively anaerobic, rod-shaped, agar-digesting bacterial strain, designated HQM9T, was isolated from the surface of the marine red alga Gelidium amansii collected from the intertidal zone of Weihai, China. Cells of HQM9T were 3.0-4.0 μm long and 0.2-0.3 μm wide and lacked flagella. The new isolate grew optimally at 28-30 °C, at pH 7.0-7.5, and in the presence of 2.5-3.0% NaCl. The predominant cellular fatty acids were iso-C15 : 0 and iso-C17 : 0 3-OH. The sole menaquinone was MK-6. The DNA G+C content was 33 mol%. The major polar lipids were comprised of phosphatidylethanolamine and four unknown polar lipids. Based on the 16S rRNA gene sequence, the closest relative was Aquimarina agarilytica ZC1T with 97.16% sequence similarity, with which strain HQM9T formed a distinct cluster belonging to the genus Aquimarina in a phylogenetic tree. Moreover, average nucleotide identity and estimated DNA-DNA hybridization values between strains HQM9T and ZC1T were 78.7% and 12.50 ± 2.95%, respectively. On the basis of phenotypic, chemotaxonomic and phylogenetic analysis, strain HQM9T represents the type strain of a novel species within the genus Aquimarina in the family Flavobacteriaceae, phylum Bacteroidetes, for which the name Aquimarina agarivorans sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is HQM9T ( = ATCC BAA-2612T = CICC 10835T).