Haloferula luteola sp. nov., an endophytic bacterium isolated from the root of a halophyte, Rosa rugosa, and emended description of the genus Haloferula

Abstract

A Gram-negative, non-spore-forming, endophytic bacterium, strain YC6886 T , was isolated from the root of a halophyte, Rosa rugosa , which inhabits coastal areas of Namhae Island off the southern coast of Korea. Cells were non-motile, obligately aerobic rods and formed pale-yellow colonies. The isolate grew at 4–32 °C (optimum 25–28 °C) and at pH 6.5–9.5 (optimum pH 7.5) and grew optimally with 2–3 % (w/v) NaCl, but NaCl was not an absolute requirement for growth. Strain YC6886 T produced yellow carotenoid pigments. Strain YC6886 T exhibited the highest 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity with Haloferula sargassicola MN1-1037 T (97.4 %). Sequence similarities between strain YC6886 T and other members of the genus Haloferula were 93.9–94.7 %. DNA–DNA relatedness between strain YC6886 T and H. sargassicola KCTC 22202 T and Haloferula rosea KCTC 22201 T was 27 and 15 %, respectively. The major fatty acids were iso-C 14 : 0 , C 16 : 0 and C 16 : 1 ω9 c and minor components were C 14 : 0 , C 18 : 0 and anteiso-C 15 : 0 . The major respiratory quinone was menaquinone 9 and the DNA G+C content was 58.5 mol%. The polar lipid profile was composed of diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol, an unknown phospholipid and an unknown phosphoglycolipid. On the basis of phenotypic, chemotaxonomic, DNA–DNA hybridization and phylogenetic analysis, strain YC6886 T represents a novel species in the genus Haloferula , for which the name Haloferula luteola sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is YC6886 T ( = KCTC 22447 T = DSM 21608 T ). An emended description of the genus Haloferula is also presented.