Rheinheimera arenilitoris sp. nov., Isolated from seashore sand

A Gram-stain-negative, non-flagellated, aerobic and ovoid or rod-shaped bacterium, designated J-MS1^T, was isolated from seashore sand in the South Sea, South Korea, and subjected to a polyphasic taxonomic study. Strain J-MS1^Twas found to grow optimally at 30 °C and pH 7.0-8.0. Phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain J-MS1^Tbelonged to the genus Rheinheimera, clustering coherently with the type strain of Rheinheimera chironomi and sharing 98.34% sequence similarity. Strain J-MS1^Texhibited 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity of 94.26-96.98% to the type strains of the other species of the genus Rheinheimera. In the phylogenetic trees based on gyrB sequences, strain J-MS1^Tclustered with the type strain of R. chironomi, with which it shared the highest sequence similarity (86.97 %). Strain J-MS1^Tcontained Q-8 as the predominant ubiquinone and summed feature 3 (C_{16 : 1}ω7c and/or C_{16 : 1}ω6c), C_{16 : 0}and C_{18 : 1}ω7c as the major fatty acids. The major polar lipids detected in strain J-MS1^Tand in the type strain of R. chironomi were phosphatidylglycerol and phosphatidylethanolamine. The DNA G+C content of strain J-MS1^Twas 49.8 mol% and its mean DNA-DNA relatedness value with R. chironomi LMG 23818^Twas 12 %. Differential phenotypic properties, together with its phylogenetic and genetic distinctiveness, revealed that strain J-MS1^Tis separated from recognized species of the genus Rheinheimera. On the basis of the data presented, strain J-MS1^Tis considered to represent a novel species of the genus Rheinheimera, for which the name Rheinheimera arenilitoris sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is J-MS1^T(=KC^TC 42112^T=CEC^T8623^T).