Winogradskyella pocilloporae sp. nov. isolated from healthy tissue of the coral Pocillopora damicornis

A novel Gram-stain-negative, rod-shaped, strictly aerobic, and orange-yellow pigmented bacterium, designated strain AFPH31 T , was isolated from internal tissues of the scleractinian coral Pocillopora damicornis, cultured in a marine aquarium system at the Justus Liebig University Giessen, Germany. Phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rRNA gene sequences placed the strain within the monophyletic cluster of the genus Winogradskyella and showed highest sequence similarity to type strains of the species Winogradskyella eximia (96.6 %), Winogradskyella wandonensis (96.4 %), and Winogradskyella damuponensis (96.4 %). The strain grew well at 15-37 °C (optimum 25 °C), in the presence of 0.5-8.5 % NaCl (optimum 2 %), and at pH 5.5-8.5 (optimum pH 6.0-7.5). The major cellular fatty acids of strain AFPH31 T were iso-C15 : 0 (22.0 %), iso-C15 : 1 G (16.9 %), iso-C17 : 0 3-OH (14.9 %), and anteiso-C15 : 0 (11.9 %). The major compound in the polyamine pattern was sym-homospermidine. The quinone system contained predominantly menaquinone MK-6. The polar lipid profile contained predominantly phosphatidylethanolamine, one unidentified aminolipid, and two unidentified lipids lacking a functional group. The genomic DNA G+C content was 36.8 mol%. According to the phylogenetic, chemotaxonomic, and phenotypic analyses we propose a novel species of the genus Winogradskyella named Winogradskyella pocilloporae sp. nov. The type strain is AFPH31 T (=CCM 8816 T =CIP 111546 T ).