Actibacter haliotis sp. nov., isolated from the gut of an abalone, Haliotis discus hannai, and emended description of the genus Actibacter.

Abstract

A novel strain, designated strain W113(T), was isolated from the gut of an abalone, Haliotis discus hannai, which was collected from the northern coast of Jeju in Korea. The isolate was a Gram-staining-negative, facultatively anaerobic, non-motile, rod-shaped bacterium producing yellow-to-orange carotenoid-type pigments. 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis showed that the isolate belonged to the genus Actibacter in the family Flavobacteriaceae and it shared the highest sequence similarity with the type strain of Actibacter sediminis (98.8 % similarity). Optimal growth occurred at 25 °C, at pH 7 and with 2 % (w/v) NaCl. The major cellular fatty acids were iso-C15:0, anteiso-C15:0 and iso-C15:1 G. Menaquinone-6 was the main respiratory quinone. The polar lipids of the isolate were phosphatidylethanolamine, three unidentified amino lipids, and three unidentified lipids. The genomic DNA G+C content was 42.6 mol% and DNA-DNA hybridization values indicated that the strain shared <18 % genomic relatedness with the most closely related species. The results of the phylogenetic, phenotypic and genotypic analyses indicated that strain W113(T) represents a novel species in the genus Actibacter, for which the name Actibacter haliotis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is W113(T) ( = KACC 17209(T) = JCM 18868(T)).