Pontibaca methylaminivorans gen. nov., sp. nov., a member of the family Rhodobacteraceae

The alphaproteobacterial strains GRP21(T) and PH34, which were isolated from coastal sediment of the East Sea, Korea, were subjected to a polyphasic taxonomic investigation. The strains were Gram-negative, non-motile, non-spore-forming, oval-shaped rods that produced creamy-white colonies on tryptic soy agar, required NaCl for growth, contained Q-10 as the predominant ubiquinone, contained 16:0, 18 :1 omega 7c and 19 :0 cyclo omega 8c as major fatty acids and had polar lipid profiles consisting of phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylglycerol, an unknown aminolipid, an unknown phospholipid and three unknown lipids. Phylogenetic analysis, based on 16S rRNA gene sequencing, showed that the strains were most closely related to Donghicola eburneus KCTC 12735(T), with 94.5% sequence similarity, but formed a separate lineage within the family Rhodobacteraceae. The combined genotypic and phenotypic data supported the conclusion that the strains represent a novel genus and species, for which the name Pontibaca methylaminivorans gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain of Pontibaca methylaminivorans is GRP21(T) (=KCTC 22497(T) =DSM 21219(T)).