Thalassotalea euphylliae sp. nov., isolated from the torch coral Euphyllia glabrescens

Strain Eup-16T, isolated from the torch coral Euphyllia glabrescens, was characterized using a polyphasic taxonomy approach. Cells of strain Eup-16T were Gram-staining-negative, aerobic, motile by means of a single polar flagellum, contained poly-β-hydroxybutyrate, rod-shaped and formed pale yellow colonies. Optimal growth occurred at 25-30 °C, pH 7.5-9 and in the presence of 1 % NaCl. Phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain Eup-16T belonged to the genus Thalassotalea and was most closely related to Thalassotalea montiporae CL-22T with sequence similarity of 98.4 %. Strain Eup-16T contained summed feature 3 (C16 : 1ω7c and/or C16 : 1ω6c), C18 : 1ω7c, C16 : 0 and C17 : 1ω8c as the predominant fatty acids. The predominant isoprenoid quinone was Q-8. The major polar lipids were phosphatidylethanolamine and phosphatidylglycerol. The genomic DNA G+C content of strain Eup-16T was 43.2 mol%. The DNA-DNA hybridization value for strain Eup-16T with T. montiporae CL-22T was less than 34 %. Differential phenotypic properties, together with the phylogenetic inference, demonstrate that strain Eup-16T should be classified as a representative of a novel species of the genus Thalassotalea, for which the name Thalassotalea euphylliae sp. nov. is presented. The type strain is Eup-16T (=BCRC 80910T=LMG 29001T=KCTC 42743T).