Mariniflexile aquimaris sp. nov., isolated from seawater, and emended description of the genus Mariniflexile Nedashkovskaya et al. 2006

A Gram-staining-negative, non-flagellated, non-gliding and rod-shaped bacterial strain, designated HWR-17 ^T, was isolated from seawater of the Yellow Sea in Korea. Strain HWR-17 ^T grew optimally at pH 7.0-8.0, at 30 °C and in the presence of 2% (w/v) NaCl. Phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain HWR-17 ^T clustered with the two Mariniflexile species in the family Flavobacteriaceae, exhibiting 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity of 97.1-97.2% to their type strains and less than 95.7% sequence similarity to other members of the family Flavobacteriaceae. Strain HWR-17 ^T contained MK-6 as the predominant menaquinone and iso-C _{15: 0} as the major fatty acid. The polar lipid profile of strain HWR-17 ^T contained phosphatidylethanolamine, an unidentified aminolipid and four unidentified lipids. The DNA G+C content of strain HWR-17 ^T was 35.7 mol% and it exhibited 11 and 10% DNA-DNA relatedness, respectively, with Mariniflexile gromovii KCTC 12570 ^T and Mariniflexile fucanivorans DSM 18792 ^T. The phylogenetic and genetic distinctiveness and differential phenotypic properties revealed that strain HWR-17 ^T is distinguishable from the two recognized Mariniflexile species. On the basis of the data presented, strain HWR-17 ^T is considered to represent a novel species of the genus Mariniflexile, for which the name Mariniflexile aquimaris sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is HWR-17 ^T (=KCTC 23346T =CCUG 60529T). An emended description of the genus Mariniflexile is also proposed.