Alteromonas litorea sp. nov., a slightly halophilic bacterium isolated from an intertidal sediment of the Yellow Sea in Korea

A Gram-negative, motile, non-spore-forming, rod-shaped bacterium, designated strain TF-22T, was isolated from an intertidal sediment in Korea. This organism grew optimally at 30-37 degrees C and in the presence of 2-5% (w/v) NaCl. It did not grow without NaCl or in the presence of more than 14% (w/v) NaCl. Strain TF-22T was characterized chemotaxonomically as having ubiquinone-8 as the predominant respiratory lipoquinone and C(16 : 0), C(16 : 1) omega7c and/or iso-C(15 : 0) 2-OH and C(18 : 1) omega7c as the major fatty acids. The DNA G+C content of strain TF-22T was 46.0 mol%. Phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rDNA sequences showed that strain TF-22T falls within the gamma-subclass of the Proteobacteria and forms a coherent cluster with Alteromonas macleodii and Alteromonas marina. Levels of 16S rDNA similarity between strain TF-22T and the type strains of two Alteromonas species were in the range 98.1-98.6%. The level of DNA-DNA relatedness between strain TF-22T and the type strains of two Alteromonas species was 15.7-18.5%. Therefore, on the basis of phenotypic properties, phylogeny and genomic distinctiveness, strain TF-22T should be placed in the genus Alteromonas as a novel species, for which the name Alteromonas litorea sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is TF-22TT (=KCCM 41775T=JCM 12188T).