Psychrobacter jeotgali sp. nov., isolated from jeotgal, a traditional Korean fermented seafood

Two Gram-negative, non-motile, non-spore-forming and moderately halophilic cocci (strains YKJ-103^T and YKJ-105) were isolated from the traditional Korean fermented seafood, jeotgal. The two strains grew optimally at 25-30°C and grew at 4 and 36°C, but not above 37°C. They grew in the presence of 0-10% (w/v) NaCl with an optimum of 2-3% (w/v) NaCl. Strains YKJ-103^T and YKJ-105 were chemotaxonomically characterized by having ubiquinone-8 (Q-8) as the predominant isoprenoid quinone and C_18:1ω9c as the major fatty acid. The polar lipid analysis indicated the presence of diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol and phosphatidylethanolamine. The DNA G + C contents of strains YKJ-103^T and YKJ-105 were 44 and 43 mol%, respectively. Strains YKJ-103^T and YKJ-105 showed no difference in their 16S rDNA sequences, and their mean level of DNA-DNA relatedness was 92.3%. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rDNA sequences showed that the two strains form a distinct phylogenetic lineage within the cluster comprising Psychrobacter species. Strains YKJ-103^T and YKJ-105 exhibited 16S rDNA similarities of 96.6% with the type strain of Psychrobacter proteolyticus, the closest Psychrobacter species, and of 94.5-95.9% with type strains of other Psychrobacter species. On the basis of phenotypic properties, phylogenetic and genomic data, strains YKJ-103^T and YKJ-105 should be placed in the genus Psychrobacter as members of a new species, for which the name Psychrobacter jeotgali sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain of the new species is strain YKJ-103^T (= KCCM 41559^T = JCM 11463^T).