Muricauda beolgyonensis sp. nov., isolated from a tidal flat

The taxonomic position of a Gram-staining-negative, non-motile, rod-shaped bacterium, strain BB-My12^T, which was isolated from a sediment sample collected from a tidal flat in Korea, was investigated by using a polyphasic approach. Strain BB-My12^T grew optimally at 37 °C, at pH 7.0-7.5 and in the presence of 2-3% (w/v) NaCl. In phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rRNA gene sequences, strain BB-My12^T fell within the cluster comprising species of the genus Muricauda and appeared most similar to the type strains of Muricauda aquimarina, Muricauda lutimaris and Muricauda ruestringensis (97.5-97.6% sequence similarity). The DNA G+C content was 45.0 mol%. Strain BB-My12^T contained MK-6 as the predominant menaquinone and iso-C_{15: 1}, iso-C_{17: 0} 3-OH and iso-C_{15: 0} as the major cellular fatty acids. The polar lipids of strain BB-My12^T were phosphatidylethanolamine and four unidentified lipids. The DNA-DNA relatedness values between strain BB-My12^T and the type strains of the three species of the genus Muricauda that appeared most closely related were in the range 5-7 %. The genetic distinctiveness and some phenotypic properties indicated that strain BB-My12^T did not belong to any established species of the genus Muricauda. Strain BB-My12^T is therefore considered to represent a novel species of the genus Muricauda, for which the name Muricauda beolgyonensis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is BB-My12^T (=KCTC 23501^T =CCUG 60800^T).