Zhongshania aliphaticivorans sp. nov., an aliphatic hydrocarbon-degrading bacterium isolated from marine sediment, and transfer of Spongiibacter borealis Jang et al. 2011 to the genus Zhongshania as Zhongshania borealis comb. nov.

Abstract

A Gram-staining-negative, facultatively aerobic bacterium, designated SM-2T, was isolated from a sea-tidal flat of Yellow Sea, South Korea. Cells were catalase- and oxidase-positive motile rods with a single polar flagellum. Growth of strain SM-2T was observed at 10–37 °C (optimum, 25–30 °C), at pH 5.5–8.5 (optimum, pH 7.0–7.5) and in the presence of 0–11 % (w/v) NaCl (optimum, 2 %). Strain SM-2T contained ubiquinone-8 (Q-8) as the sole isoprenoid quinone and C17 : 1ω8c, summed feature 3 (comprising C16 : 1ω7c and/or iso-C15 : 0 2-OH), C17 : 0 and C18 : 1ω7c as the major fatty acids. Phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol, diphosphatidylglycerol and an unidentified lipid were identified as the major cellular polar lipids. The G+C content of the genomic DNA was 52.2 mol%. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain SM-2T formed a tight phyletic lineage with Zhongshania antarctica ZS5-23T, Zhongshania guokunii ZS6-22T and Spongiibacter borealis CL-AS9T, but that S. borealis CL-AS9T was distinct from other species of the genus Spongiibacter . Based on 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities, strain SM-2T was most closely related to S. borealis CL-AS9T, Z. antarctica ZS5-23T and Z. guokunii ZS6-22T, with similarities of 99.5 %, 98.9 % and 98.7 %, respectively, but the DNA–DNA hybridization values among these species were clearly lower than 70 %. On the basis of chemotaxonomic data and molecular properties, we propose strain SM-2T represents a novel species of the genus Zhongshania with the name Zhongshania aliphaticivorans sp. nov. (type strain SM-2T = KACC 18120T = JCM 30138T). We also propose the transfer of Spongiibacter borealis Jang et al. 2011 to the genus Zhongshania as Zhongshania borealis comb. nov. (type strain CL-AS9T = KCCM 90094T = JCM 17304T).