Lewinella aurantiaca sp. nov., a carotenoid pigment-producing bacterium isolated from surface seawater

Abstract

A Gram-stain-negative, aerobic, rod-shaped, carotenoid-pigmented, motile-by-gliding bacterium, which was designated as SSH13^T, was isolated from a surface seawater sample collected from Sehwa Beach in the Republic of Korea. Strain SSH13^T was oxidase-negative, catalase-positive and grew at 2-37 °C (optimum, 30 °C), in the presence of 0.5-6% NaCl and within a pH range of pH 6-10 (optimum, pH 8). The novel isolate required NaCl for growth and grew optimally with approximately 2 % NaCl. Chemotaxonomic and morphological characteristics were consistent with members of the genus <i>Lewinella</i>. Furthermore, phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequencing revealed that strain SSH13^T was most closely related to the type strains of the genus <i>Lewinella</i>. Strain SSH13^T had highest 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities to <i>Lewinella persica</i> DSM 23188^T (95.3 %) and <i>Lewinella agarilytica</i> KCTC 12774^T (95.0 %). The major fatty acids of SSH13^T were summed feature 3 (C_{16 : 1} <i> ω</i>7<i>c</i> and/or C_{16 : 1} <i> ω</i>6<i>c</i>) and iso-C_{15 : 0}. Strain SSH13^T contained phosphatidylethanolamine as a major polar lipid. Menaquinone-7 was the predominant respiratory quinone. The average nucleotide identity values between strain SSH13^T and <i>L. persica</i> T-3^T and <i>L. agarilytica</i> SST-19^T were 72.9 and 72.6 %, respectively. The DNA G+C content of the genomic DNA was 52.8 mol%. The present study aimed to determine the multiple-antibiotic resistance ofthe novel bacterium. Based on phylogenetic and phenotypic analyses, strain SSH13^T is considered to represent a novel species of the genus <i>Lewinella</i>, for which the name <i>Lewinella aurantiaca</i> sp. nov. (type strain SSH13^T=KACC 21167^T=NBRC 113866^T) is proposed.