Acinetobacter marinus sp. nov. and Acinetobacter seohaensis sp. nov., isolated from sea water of the Yellow Sea in Korea

Abstract

Two Gram-negative, nonmotile, coccobacilli, SW-3T and SW-100T, were isolated from sea water of the Yellow Sea in Korea. Strains SW-3T and SW-100T contained ubiquinone-9 (Q-9) as the predominant respiratory lipoquinone and C18:1 ω9c and C16:0 as the major fatty acids. The DNA G+C contents of strains SW-3T and SW-100T were 44.1 mol% and 41.9 mol%, respectively. A neighbor-joining tree based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that the two isolates fell within the evolutionary radiation enclosed by the genus Acinetobacter. Strains SW-3T and SW-100T exhibited a 16S rRNA gene similarity value of 95.7% and a mean DNA-DNA relatedness level of 9.2%. Strain SW-3T exhibited 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity levels of 93.5 - 96.9% to the validly described Acinetobacter species and fifteen Acinetobacter genomic species. Strain SW-100T exhibited 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity levels of less than 97.0% to the other Acinetobacter species except Acinetobacter towneri DSM 14962T (98.0% similarity). Strains SW-3T and SW-100T exhibited mean levels of DNA-DNA relatedness of 7.3 - 16.7% to the type strains of some phylogenetically related Acinetobacter species. On the basis of phenotypic, phylogenetic, and genetic data, strains SW-3T and SW-100T were classified in the genus Acinetobacter as two distinct novel species, for which the names Acinetobacter marinus sp. nov. (type strain SW-3T=KCTC 12259T=DSM 16312T) and Acinetobacter seohaensis sp. nov. (type strain SW-100T=KCTC 12260T=DSM 16313T) are proposed, respectively.