Oceaniserpentilla haliotis gen. nov., sp nov., a marine bacterium isolated from haemolymph serum of blacklip abalone

An aerobic, Gram-negative bacterial isolate, strain DSM 19503(T), was isolated from haemolymph serum of the blacklip abalone Haliotis rubra. Cells of strain DSM 19503(T) were vibrioid to spiral, motile and were able to pass through sterile filters with a pore size of 0.2 pm, indicating the small width of the bacterium. The isolate was psychrophilic, with the ability to grow at 2-8 degrees C. Oxidase activity was present, whereas catalase activity was absent. The nearly complete 16S rRNA gene sequence of strain DSM 19503(T) was obtained and phylogenetic sequence analysis showed that it formed a distinct genus in the family Oceanospirillaceae with highest sequence similarity of 92.9 % to Oleispira antarctica RB-8(T). The cellular fatty acid composition was dependent on the growth medium used for cultivation. During growth on seawater agar, the fatty acid composition was most similar to that of Oleispira antarctica DSM 14852(T), with mainly C-16: 0 (90.3%). In contrast, Columbia blood agar/NaCl-grown cells exhibited mainly C-10:0 3-OH (11.8 %), C-12:1 cis5 (8.2 %), C-16:1 cis9 (29.6 %), C-16:0 (19.3 %) and C-18: 1 cis9 (13.1%) fatty acids. On the basis of phenotypic, chemotaxonomic and genotypic data, strain DSM 19503(T) is considered to represent a novel species in a new genus for which the name Oceaniserpentilla haliotis gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain of Oceaniserpentilla halicitis is DSM 19503(T) (=LMG 24225(T)).