Dokdonia aurantiaca sp. nov., isolated from seaweed Zostera marina

A non-motile, orange-coloured and rod-shaped bacterial strain, designated strain ZOW29^T, was isolated from a seaweed sample collected from the South Sea, Republic of Korea. Cells were Gram-stain-negative, aerobic and non-motile. The isolate required sea salts for growth. Carotenoid pigment was produced. A phylogenetic tree based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain ZOW29^Tforms an evolutionary lineage within the radiation enclosing the members of the genus Dokdonia with Dokdonia diaphoros MSKK-32T, Dokdonia eikasta PMA-26^Tand Dokdonia donghaensis DSW-1^T(97.1% sequence similarity each) as its nearest neighbours. The DNA–DNA relatedness values between strain ZOW29^Tand these four type strains were 35–48%. The major fatty acids were iso-C_15:0, iso-C_17:03-OH and iso-C_15:1G. Strain ZOW29^Tcontained MK-6 and phosphatidylethanolamine, an unidentified aminolipid and an unidentified polar lipid as the only isoprenoid quinone and the major polar lipids, respectively. The DNA G+C content of strain ZOW29^Twas 38 mol%. On the basis of polyphasic characterization, it is suggested that the isolate represents a novel species of the genus Dokdonia, for which the name Dokdonia aurantiaca sp. nov. (type strain, ZOW29^T=KCTC 52956^T=JCM 32295^T) is proposed.