Microbulbifer aestuariivivens sp. nov., isolated from a tidal flat

A Gram-stain-negative, non-motile, aerobic and coccoid or rod-shaped bacterium, designated GHTF-23T, was isolated from a tidal flat of the South Sea, South Korea. GHTF-23T grew optimally at 37 °C, at pH 6.5-7.5 and in the presence of 2.0 % (w/v) NaCl. In the neighbour-joining phylogenetic tree based on 16S rRNA gene sequences, GHTF-23T fell within the clade comprising the type strains of species of the genus Microbulbifer. GHTF-23T exhibited 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities of 97.1-97.9 % to the type strains of Microbulbifer salipaludis, Microbulbifer hydrolyticus, Microbulbifer elongatus, Microbulbifer mangrovi and Microbulbifer yueqingensis and 94.5-96.8 % to the type strains of the other species of the genus Microbulbifer. GHTF-23T contained Q-8 as the predominant ubiquinone and iso-C15 : 0 and summed feature 3 (C16 : 1ω7c and/or C16 : 1ω6c) as the major fatty acids. The major polar lipids detected in GHTF-23T and M. hydrolyticus DSM 11525T were phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol and one unidentified glycolipid. The DNA G+C content of GHTF-23T was 60.1 mol% and its mean DNA-DNA relatedness values with the type strains of M. salipaludis, M. hydrolyticus, M. elongatus, M. mangrovi and M. yueqingensis were 11-31 %. The differential phenotypic properties, together with the phylogenetic and genetic distinctiveness, revealed that GHTF-23T is separated from species of the genus Microbulbifer with validly published names. On the basis of the data presented, GHTF-23T is considered to represent a novel species of the genus Microbulbifer, for which the name Microbulbifer aestuariivivenssp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is GHTF-23T (=KCTC 52569T=NBRC 112533T).