Leeia speluncae sp. nov., isolated from Stegodon sea cave in Thailand

Abstract

A novel Gram-stain-negative, obligately aerobic, short rod-shaped and motile bacterium, designated strain BC00092T, was isolated from brackish ground water collected in Stegodon Sea Cave located at Satun UNESCO Global Geopark, Satun Province, Thailand. The phylogenetic analysis of BC00092T based on 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that the strain represented a member of the genus Leeia and was closely related to Leeia oryzae DSM 17879T (96.68 %) and Leeia aquatica IMCC25680T (94.89 %). The average nucleotide identity and digital DNA-DNA hybridization values calculated from the whole-genome sequences between BC00092T and closely related type strains of species within the family Leeiaceae were lower than the species demarcation threshold values of 95 and 70 %, respectively. Moreover, five conserved signature indels of members of the family Leeiaceae were found in the protein sequences from the annotated assembled genome of BC00092T. According to the results of the polyphasic taxonomic study, strain BC00092T represents a novel species within the genus Leeia, for which the name Leeia speluncae sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is BC00092T (TBRC 13508T = KCTC 92111T).