Shimia isoporae sp. nov., isolated from the reef-building coral Isopora palifera

Abstract

A bacterial strain, designated SW6T, was isolated from the reef-building coral Isopora palifera, collected from seawater off the coast of southern Taiwan, and characterized using a polyphasic taxonomic approach. Strain SW6T was Gram-negative, aerobic, beige coloured, rod-shaped and motile by monopolar flagella. 16S rRNA gene sequence studies showed that the strain clustered closely with Shimia marina JCM 13038T (97.9 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity). Strain SW6T required NaCl for growth and exhibited optimal growth at 25–30 °C and 3–4 % NaCl. The predominant cellular fatty acid was summed feature 8 (C18 : 1ω7c/C18 : 1ω6c; 64.1 %). The major respiratory quinone was ubiquinone Q-10 and the DNA G+C content was 54.9 mol%. The results of physiological and biochemical tests allowed clear phenotypic differentiation of this isolate from previously described species of the genus Shimia. It is evident from the genotypic, phenotypic and chemotaxonomic data that the new strain should be classified as a representative of a novel species in the genus Shimia. The name proposed for this taxon is Shimia isoporae sp. nov.; the type strain is SW6T ( = LMG 25377T = BCRC 80085T).