Rheinheimera maricola sp. nov., isolated from seawater of the Yellow Sea

Abstract

A Gram-negative and facultative aerobic strain, designated as strain MA-13T, was isolated from seawater in the Yellow Sea Republic of Korea. Cells were oxidase-and catalase-positive and non-motile short rods. Growth of strain MA-13T was observed over a range of 10–37 °C (optimum, 30 °C), pH 6.0–11.0 (optimum, pH 7.0) and in the presence of 0–5.5% (w/v) sodium chloride (optimum, 1.0–2.0%). Strain MA-13T contained ubiquinone-8 as the respiratory quinone, phosphatidylethanolamine, an unidentified aminolipid, an unidentified phospholipid and four unidentified lipids as major polar lipids and C16:0, C12:0 3-OH and summed feature 3 (C16:1 ω7c and/or C16:1 ω6c) as major cellular fatty acids. The G+C content of the genomic DNA was 48.3mol%. Phylogenetic analyses based on the 16S rRNA gene and whole-genome sequences revealed that strain MA-13T formed a distinct phyletic lineage in the genus Rheinheimera. Strain MA-13T was most closely related to Rheinheimera lutimaris YQF-2T, Rheinheimera aquimaris SW-353T, Rheinheimera pacifica KMM 1406T and Rheinheimera baltica DSM 14885T with 98.10, 98.08, 98.07 and 97.94% 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities. Average nucleotide identity and DNA–DNA hybridization values between strain MA-13T and R. aquimaris KCTC 12840T, R. pacifica DSM 17616T and R. baltica DSM 14885T were 76.3, 78.6 and 76.9% and 19.5, 21.3 and 20.5%, respectively. Based on the phenotypic, chemotaxonomic and molecular features, strain MA-13T represents a novel species of the genus Rheinheimera, for which the name Rheinheimera maricola sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is MA-13T (=KACC 22113T=JCM 34600T). © 2022 The Authors.