Algihabitans albus gen. nov., sp. nov., isolated from a culture of the green alga Ulva prolifera.

Abstract

A bacterial strain, designated HHTR 118T, was isolated from a culture of the green alga Ulvaprolifera obtained from offshore seawater of Qingdao, Shandong Province, China. Cells of strain HHTR 118T were rod-shaped and motile with a single flagellum, and approximately 0.3-0.4 µm wide and 0.8-1.4 µm long. The strain was Gram-stain-negative, strictly aerobic, catalase-negative and oxidase-positive. Optimal growth was observed at 30 °C, at pH 8.0 and with 1 % (w/v) NaCl. Nitrate was not reduced. Sucrose, sodium citrate and l-leucine stimulated growth, but not lactose, fructose, xylose, d-mannose, glucose, raffinose, rhamnose, ornithine or lysine. The DNA G+C content of strain HHTR 118T calculated on the basis of the genome sequence was 64.9 mol% and the genome size is 4.6 Mbp. The major quinone was ubiquinone 10 and the predominant cellular fatty acids (>10 % of total fatty acids) were summed feature 8 (C18 : 1ω6c and/or C18 : 1ω7c). The predominant polar lipids were phosphatidylglycerol, one unidentified phospholipid, two unidentified aminolipids and three unidentified polar lipids. Phylogenetic analysis, based on 16S rRNA gene sequences, demonstrated that strain HHTR 118T was affiliated with the family Rhodospirillaceae. On the basis of the 16S rRNA gene sequence data as well as physiological and biochemical characteristics, we concluded that strain HHTR 118T represents a novel species of a novel genus. We propose the name of Algihabitans albus gen. nov., sp. nov. for this novel species. The type strain of the novel species is strain HHTR 118T (=KCTC 62395T=MCCC 1K03486T).