Hwanghaeicola aestuarii gen. nov., sp nov., a moderately halophilic bacterium isolated from a tidal flat of the Yellow Sea

A moderately halophilic Gram-staining-negative bacterium, designated strain Y26(T), was isolated from a tidal flat of Taean coast in South Korea. Cells were strictly aerobic, motile cocci with a single flagellum and showed catalase- and oxidase-positive reactions. Growth of strain Y26(T) was observed at 15-35 degrees C (optimum 25-30 degrees C), pH 6.0-8.0 (optimum pH 6.5-7.5) and with 1.5-6.0% (w/v) NaCl (optimum 2.0-3.0%). The predominant fatty acids were C-18:1 omega 7c (66.2%), C-16:0 (12.4%) and C-10:0 3-OH (5.0%) and the G+C content of the genomic DNA was 61.0 mol%. Strain Y26(T) contained ubiquinone-10 (Q-10) as the major respiratory quinone. Comparative 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis showed that strain Y26(T). formed a distinct phyletic lineage from other genera within the Roseobacter clade of the class Alphaproteobacteria and was most closely related to members of the genera Maribius, Maritimibacter and Palleronia with 93.8-94.6% sequence similarity. On the basis of chemotaxonomic data and molecular properties, strain Y26(T) represents a novel genus, Hwanghaeicola, within the family Rhodobacteraceae, for which the name Hwanghaeicola aestuarii gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is Y26(T) (=KACC 13705(T) =DSM 22009(T)).