Ruegeria conchae sp. nov., isolated from the ark clam Scapharca broughtonii

Abstract

A slightly halophilic, Gram-negative, strictly aerobic, non-motile rod, designated TW15T, was isolated from an ark clam in South Korea. Growth occurred at 10–37 °C, with 1–5 % (w/v) NaCl and at pH 7.0–10.0. Optimal growth occurred at 25–30 °C, with 2 % (w/v) NaCl and at pH 8.0. Strain TW15T exhibited both oxidase and catalase activities. The major fatty acids of strain TW15T were summed feature 8 (consisting of C18 : 1ω7c and/or C18 : 1ω6c) and 11-methyl C18 : 1ω7c. The predominant isoprenoid quinone was ubiquinone-10 (Q-10). The polar lipids of strain TW15T comprised phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylglycerol, diphosphatidylglycerol, an unidentified phospholipid, an unidentified aminolipid and five unidentified lipids. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that strain TW15T was most closely related to Ruegeria lacuscaerulensis DSM 11314T (98.0 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity). DNA–DNA relatedness with closely related strains was <52±3 %. The DNA G+C content was 55.7 mol%. On the basis of phenotypic, genotypic and phylogenetic data, strain TW15T represents a novel species of the genus Ruegeria , for which the name Ruegeria conchae sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is TW15T ( = KACC 15115T  = JCM 17315T).