Loktanella acticola sp. nov., isolated from seawater

A Gram-stain-negative, aerobic, non-motile and coccoid, ovoid or rod-shaped bacterial strain, designated OISW-6^T, was isolated from seawater near Oido, a South Korean island, and subjected to a polyphasic taxonomic study. Strain OISW-6^T grew optimally at 25 °C, at pH 7.0–8.0 and in the presence of 2.0–3.0 % (w/v) NaCl. The phylogenetic trees based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain OISW-6^T fell within the clade comprising the type strains of Loktanella species. Strain OISW-6^T exhibited 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity values of 97.0–98.9 % to Loktanella maricola, Loktanella tamlensis, Loktanella rosea, Loktanella maritima, Loktanella sediminilitoris and Loktanella litorea, and of 94.0–96.3 % to the type strains of the other Loktanella species. Strain OISW-6^T contained Q-10 as the predominant ubiquinone and C_{18: 1} ω7c as the major fatty acid. The major polar lipids detected in strain OISW-6^T were phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylglycerol and one unidentified aminolipid. The DNA G+C content of strain OISW-6^T was 57.3 mol% and its DNA–DNA relatedness values with the type strains of the six phylogenetically closely related Loktanella species were 8–25 %. Differential phenotypic properties, together with its phylogenetic and genetic distinctiveness, revealed that strain OISW-6^T is separated from recognized species of the genus Loktanella. On the basis of the data presented, strain OISW-6^T is considered to represent a novel species of the genus Loktanella, for which the name Loktanella acticola sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is OISW-6^T (=KCTC 52837^T=NBRC 112781^T).