Haliea mediterranea sp. nov., a marine gammaproteobacterium

Abstract

Strain 7SM29T, an aerobic marine gammaproteobacterium isolated from seawater from Castellón, Spain, was characterized by classical phenotyping, chemotaxonomy and 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis. Strain 7SM29T was found to be closely related to strains in the genus Haliea and to Congregibacter litoralis KT71T, with which a genus-level cluster was formed within the NOR5/OM60 clade of the Gammaproteobacteria. Strain 7SM29T was a short, motile rod with a tuft of three polar flagella. The strain grew on marine agar and formed pale-yellow colonies. Strain 7SM29T required NaCl for growth, reduced nitrate to nitrite, degraded several polymers and showed a preference for organic acids and amino acids over carbohydrates as carbon and energy sources. Strain 7SM29T contained Q-8 as the sole respiratory quinone. The DNA G+C content was 62.1 mol%. Phosphatidylglycerol, diphosphatidylglycerol and phosphatidylethanolamine were the major polar lipids. The major cellular fatty acids were unsaturated C16–C18 compounds. On the basis of extensive phenotypic and phylogenetic comparative analysis, it is concluded that the strain represents a novel species of the genus Haliea, for which the name Haliea mediterranea sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is 7SM29T (=CECT 7447T =DSM 21924T).