Parasphingopyxis algicola sp. nov., isolated from a marine red alga Asparagopsis taxiformis and emended description of the genus Parasphingopyxis Uchida et al. 2012

An aerobic, Gram-stain-negative, yellow-pigmented bacterium, designated strain ATAX6-5 T , was isolated from a marine red alga, Asparagopsistaxiformis, in South Korea. Cells were non-motile rods showing catalase- and oxidase-positive reactions. Growth of strain ATAX6-5 T was observed at 5-35 °C (optimum, 30 °C), at pH 6.0-9.5 (optimum, pH 7.0) and in the presence of 0-6.0 % (w/v) NaCl (optimum, 2 %). Ubiquinone-10 was detected as the sole isoprenoid quinone and C18 : 1ω7c, C16 : 0 and C17 : 1ω6c were identified as the major cellular fatty acids. Diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol, sphingoglycolipid, phosphatidylcholine, an unknown phospholipid and four unknown glycolipids were detected as polar lipids. The G+C content of the genomic DNA was 60.4 mol%. Phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain ATAX6-5 T formed a tight phylogenic lineage with Parasphingopyxis lamellibrachiae JAMH 0132 T with a 100 % bootstrap value. Strain ATAX6-5 T was most closely related to P. lamellibrachiae JAMH 0132 T with a 96.9 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity. Based on phenotypic, chemotaxonomic and molecular features, strain ATAX6-5 T clearly represents a novel species of the genus Parasphingopyxis, for which the name Parasphingopyxis algicola sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is ATAX6-5 T (=KACC 18993 T =JCM 31719 T ). An emended description of the genus Parasphingopyxis is also proposed.