Vitellibacter nionensis sp. Nov., isolated from a shallow water hydrothermal vent

A novel, Gram-stain-negative, non-motile, rod-shaped yellow bacterium, designated VBW088^Twas isolated from a shallow water hydrothermal vent in Espalamaca in the Azores. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain VBW088^T clustered with three type strains of species of the genus Vitellibacter and exhibited a sequence similarity of 97.3% with Vitellibacter soesokkakensis RSSK-12^T. However, strain VBW088^T and V. soesokkakensis RSSK-12^T exhibited low DNA–DNA relatedness (12.7±3.5%). Strain VBW088^T was positive for catalase and oxidase. Growth occurred at 10–37 6C, with the optimum at 30 6C, and at pH 6.0–8.0 (optimum pH 6.0) and in up to 5% (w/v) NaCl with optimum growth at 1–2% (w/v) NaCl. The major fatty acids (.10%) were iso-C_15:0 (33.5%) and iso-C_17:0 3-OH (32.0%). The polar lipids detected in strain VBW088^T consisted of phosphatidylethanolamine, one unidentified aminolipid and three unidentified phospholipids. The DNA G+C content of strain VBW088^T was 36.7 mol%. On the basis of phylogenetic inference, DNA–DNA relatedness, chemotaxonomic analysis and physiological data, the isolate represents a novel species of the genus Vitellibacter, for which the name Vitellibacter nionensis sp. nov. is proposed, with the type strain as VBW088^T(5KCTC 32420^T5MCC 2354^T).