Lentilitoribacter donghaensis gen. nov., sp. nov., a slowly-growing alphaproteobacterium isolated from coastal seawater

A Gram-staining-negative, aerobic, non-spore-forming, non-flagellated and rod- or short rod-shaped bacterial strain, designated BH-4^T, was isolated from coastal seawater in the East Sea, South Korea. Strain BH-4 ^T grew optimally at 25 C, at pH 7.0-7.5 and in the presence of 2 % (w/v) NaCl. Strain BH-4^T exhibited the highest 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity value (96.5 %) to Hoeflea phototrophica NCIMB 14078^T. It exhibited 94.2-95.5, 94.7 and 93.8 % sequence similarity values to the type strains of the other Hoeflea species, Ahrensia kielensis and Pseudahrensia aquimaris, respectively. Neighbor-joining, maximum-likelihood and maximum-parsimony phylogenetic trees revealed that strain BH-4^T clustered with the type strains of A. kielensis and P. aquimaris. Strain BH-4^T contained Q-10 as the predominant ubiquinone as shown in the genera Ahrensia, Pseudahrensia and Hoeflea. The fatty acid and polar lipid profiles of strain BH-4^T were distinguished from those of members of the genera Ahrensia, Pseudahrensia and Hoeflea. The DNA G + C content was 49.3 mol%, lower than those of the type strains of P. aquimaris and Hoeflea species. The phylogenetic data, differential chemotaxonomic and other phenotypic properties revealed that strain BH-4^T constitutes a new genus and species within the Alphaproteobacteria, for which the name Lentilitoribacter donghaensis gen. nov., sp. nov., is proposed. The type strain of Lentilitoribacter donghaensis is BH-4^T (=KCTC 32082^T = CCUG 62792^T).