Alteromonas marina sp. nov., isolated from sea water of the East Sea in Korea

Abstract

Two Gram-negative, motile, non-spore-forming and moderately halophilic rods (strains SW-47T and SW-49) were isolated from sea water of the East Sea in Korea and subjected to a Polyphasic taxonomic study. The two strains grew optimally between 30 and 37 °C, and grew at 4 and 44 °C but not at temperatures above 45 °C. They grew optimally in the presence of 2-5% (w/v) NaCl, but did not grow in the absence of NaCl. Strains SW-47T and SW-49 had ubiquinone-8 (Q-8) as the predominant respiratory lipoquinone and C16:1 ω7c and/or iso-C15:0 2OH, C16:0 and C18:1 ω7c as the major fatty acids, which are consistent with the corresponding data for Alteromonas macleodii. The DNA G+C contents of strains SW-47T and SW-49 were 45 and 44 mol%, respectively. Strains SW-47T and SW-49 showed a high level of 16S rDNA sequence similarity (99.9%) and a mean level of DNA-DNA relatedness of 96.5%. Phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rDNA sequences showed that the two strains form a coherent cluster with A. macleodii. Strains SW-47T and SW-49 exhibited levels of 16S rDNA sequence similarity of 99.3 and 99.1%, respectively, with A. macleodii DSM 6062T and of less than 89.4% with other species used in the phylogenetic analyses. Alteromonas fuliginea CIP 105339T was found to be more closely related to the genus Pseudoalteromonas than to the genus Alteromonas. On the basis of phenotypic properties and phylogenetic and genomic data, strains SW-47T and SW-49 represent a new species of the genus Alteromonas, for which the name Alteromonas marina (type strain SW-47T=KCCM 41638T=JCM 11804T) is proposed.