Gaetbulibacter aquiaggeris sp. nov., a member of the Flavobacteriaceae isolated from seawater

A Gram-stain-negative, non-flagellated, non-gliding and rod-shaped bacterial strain, designated KEM-8 T , was isolated from seawater in the Korean peninsula. Strain KEM-8 T was found to grow optimally at pH 7.0-8.0, at 30 °C and in the presence of 2-3 % (w/v) NaCl. A neighbour-joining phylogenetic tree based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain KEM-8 T falls within the clade comprising species of the genus Gaetbulibacter , clustering with the type strains of Gaetbulibacter marinus and Gaetbulibacter lutimaris with which it exhibits 98.4 and 97.2 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity, respectively. Sequence similarities to Gaetbulibacter saemankumensis SMK-12 T and Gaetbulibacter aestuarii KCTC 23303 T were 95.4 and 95.2 %, respectively. Strain KEM-8 T was found to contain MK-6 as the predominant menaquinone and iso-C 15 : 0 , iso-C 17 : 0 3-OH, iso-C 16 : 0 3-OH and iso-C 15 : 1 G as the major fatty acids. The major polar lipids were identified as phosphatidylethanolamine and an unidentified lipid. The DNA G+C content of strain KEM-8 T was 36.0 mol% and mean DNA-DNA relatedness values with G. marinus KCTC 23046 T and G. lutimaris D1-y4 T were 27.6 ± 0.9 and 10.3 ± 1.4 %, respectively. Differential phenotypic properties, together with the phylogenetic and genetic distinctiveness, revealed that strain KEM-8 T is distinguishable from species of the genus Gaetbulibacter with validly published names. On the basis of the data presented, strain KEM-8 T represents a novel species of the genus Gaetbulibacter , for which the name Gaetbulibacter aquiaggeris sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is KEM-8 T ( = KCTC 42198 T  = NBRC 110553 T ).