Puniceibacterium confluentis sp. Nov., isolated from the junction between the ocean and a freshwater spring, and emended description of the genus Puniceibacterium

A Gram-stain-negative, non-motile, aerobic and ovoid or rod-shaped bacterium, designated JSSK-17^T, was isolated from the place where the ocean and a freshwater spring meet at Jeju island, South Korea. Strain JSSK-17^T grew optimally at 30 °C, at pH 7.0–8.0 and in the presence of 1.0–2.0% (w/v) NaCl. Phylogenetic trees, based on 16S rRNA gene sequences, showed that strain JSSK-17^T clustered with the type strains of Puniceibacterium antarcticum and Puniceibacterium sediminis, exhibiting sequence similarities of 98.1–98.2 %. Strain JSSK-17^T and the type strains of P. antarcticum and P. sediminis contained Q-10 as the predominant ubiquinone and C_{18: 1}ω7c as the major fatty acid. The predominant polar lipids detected in strain JSSK-17^T and the type strains of P. antarcticum and P. sediminis were phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol, diphosphatidylglycerol, one unidentified aminolipid, one unidentified glycolipid and one unidentified phospholipid. The DNA G+C content of strain JSSK-17^T was 64.4 mol% and its DNA–DNA relatedness values with the type strains of P. antarcticum and P. sediminis were 24 and 15 %, respectively. The differential phenotypic properties, together with the phylogenetic and genetic distinctiveness, revealed that strain JSSK-17^T is separated from the two reference species of the genus Puniceibacterium with validly published names. On the basis of the data presented, strain JSSK-17^T is considered to represent a novel species of the genus Puniceibacterium, for which the name Puniceibacterium confluentis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is JSSK-17^T (=KCTC 52765^T=NBRC 112766^T).