Pseudovibrio stylochi sp. nov., isolated from a marine flatworm

A Gram-stain-negative, motile, rod-shaped bacterial strain, designated UST20140214-052T, was isolated from a marine flatworm (polyclad). The bacterium was found to be catalase-positive and weakly oxidase-positive, and motile by means of several peritrichous or subpolar flagella. Strain UST20140214-052T grew optimally at 28 °C, at pH 7.0 and in the presence of 3 % (w/v) NaCl. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that strain UST20140214-052T belongs to the genus Pseudovibrio, with highest sequence similarity to Pseudovibrio hongkongensis UST20140214-015BT (98.8 %), followed by Pseudovibrio japonicus WSF2T (96.2 %), Pseudovibrio ascidiaceicola F423T (96.2 %), Pseudovibrio denitrificans DN34T (95.9 %), Pseudovibrio axinellae Ad2T (95.9 %). All the other species shared < 95.5 % sequence similarity. The DNA-DNA hybridization estimate value between strain UST20140214-052T and P. hongkongensis UST20140214-015BT was 24.7 ± 2.4 %. The major fatty acid was summed feature 8 (C18 : 1ω7c and/or C18 : 1ω6c, as defined by the MIDI system; 62.6 %). The DNA G+C content was 47.0 mol%. The combined genotypic and phenotypic data show that strain UST20140214-052T represents a novel species within the genus Pseudovibrio, for which the name Pseudovibrio stylochi sp. nov. is proposed, with the type strain UST20140214-052T ( = KCTC 42384T = MCCC 1K00452T).