Pseudopelagicola gijangensis gen. nov., sp. nov., isolated from the sea squirt Halocynthia roretzi

A Gram-stain-negative, aerobic, non-motile, rod-shaped bacterial strain, designated YSS-7(T), was isolated from a sea squirt (Halocynthia roretzi) collected from the South Sea of South Korea. Strain YSS-7(T) grew optimally at 25 °C, at pH 7.0-8.0 and in the presence of 2.0% (w/v) NaCl. Phylogenetic trees based on 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that strain YSS-7(T) clustered with the type strains of Pelagicola litoralis, Planktotalea frisia, Pacificibacter maritimus and Roseovarius marinus. Strain YSS-7(T) exhibited the highest 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity (97.7%) to the type strain of Pelagicola litoralis and sequence similarity of more than 96.0% to the type strains of some other species. Strain YSS-7(T) contained Q-10 as the predominant ubiquinone and C18:1ω7c and 11-methyl C18:1ω7c as the major fatty acids. The major polar lipids of strain YSS-7(T) were phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylglycerol, an unidentified aminolipid and an unidentified lipid. The fatty acid and polar lipid profiles of strain YSS-7(T) were different from those of the type strains of phylogenetically related species. The DNA G+C content of strain YSS-7(T) was 55.5 mol%. Other phenotypic properties demonstrated that strain YSS-7(T) is distinguished from phylogenetically related species. On the basis of the data presented, strain YSS-7(T) is considered to represent a novel genus and species, for which the name Pseudopelagicola gijangensis gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain of Pseudopelagicola gijangensis is YSS-7(T) ( = KCTC 42049(T) = CECT 8540(T)).