Sejongia marina sp. nov., isolated from Antarctic seawater

Abstract

A Gram-negative, psychrotolerant, chemoheterotrophic, aerobic, non-gliding, non-motile, yellow-pigmented bacterium, designated IMCC3228(T), was isolated from coastal seawater of the Antarctic. On the basis of 16S rRNA gene sequence comparisons, the strain was most closely related to the genera Sejongia (95.3-96.1 %) and Chryseobacterium (94.2-95.9 %) in the family Flavobacteriaceae. Phylogenetic trees generated using several treeing algorithms based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that this Antarctic marine isolate formed a distinct phyletic line within the genus Sejongia. The DNA G+C content of the strain was 35.0 mol% and the major respiratory quinone was MK-6. Several phenotypic and chemotaxonomic characteristics, including temperature and NaCl optima for growth, oxidase activity and the proportions of major cellular fatty acids, served to differentiate the strain from the recognized species of the genus Sejongia. Therefore strain IMCC3228(T) represents a novel species of the genus Sejongia, for which the name Sejongia marina sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is IMCC3228(T) (=KCCM 42689(T)=NBRC 103143(T)).