Shewanella basaltis sp nov., a marine bacterium isolated from black sand

Abstract

A Gram-negative, motile, rod-shaped bacterium was isolated from black sand collected at Soesoggak, Jeju island, Korea. The strain, designated J83(T), was able to grow in the presence of 5% NaCl, at temperatures of 4-45 degrees C and over the pH range 5.5-9.5. The isolate reduced nitrate to nitrite and was positive for oxidase, catalase, alkaline phosphatase and leucine arylamidase. Strain J83(T) utilized malate, maltose, mannitol and glucose as sole sources of carbon. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that strain J83(T) belongs to the class Gammaproteobacteria and is related to species of the genus Shewanella. Strain J83(T) exhibited 97.8 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity to the type strain of Shewanella hafniensis. Based on DNA-DNA hybridization, the level of relatedness between strain J83(T) and S. hafniensis NBRC 100975(T) was 39.3 %. On the basis of phenotypic, genetic and phylogenetic data, strain J83(T) is considered to represent a novel species of the genus Shewanella, for which the name Shewanella basaltis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is J83(T) (=KCTC 22121(T) =JCM 14937(T)).