Downloaded from www.microbiologyresearch.org by IP: 54.162.190.106 On: Sun, 20 Mar 2016 07:16:17 Albimonas donghaensis gen. nov., sp. nov., a non- photosynthetic member of the class Alphaproteobacteria isolated from seawater Jee-Min Lim, 1 3 Che Ok Jeon, 2 3 Ho Hee Jang, 2 Dong-Jin Park, 1 Yong Kook Shin, 3 Soo-Hwan Yeo 4 and Chang-Jin Kim 1 Correspondence Chang-Jin Kim changjin@kribb.re.kr 1 Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology, 52 Oeundong, Yusong, Daejeon 305-333, Republic of Korea 2 Division of Applied Life Science, EB-NCRC, PMBBRC, Gyeongsang National University, Jinju, 660-701, Republic of Korea 3 Health Industry Center, Chungcheongbuk-Do 363-883, Republic of Korea 4 Rural Resources Development Institute of Agricultural Science and Technology, Rural Development Administration, Suwon 411-853, Korea A moderately halophilic Gram-negative bacterium, strain DS2 T , was isolated from seawater from the East Sea in Korea. Strain DS2 T grew at salinities of 0–14 % (w/v) NaCl and at temperatures in the range 10–38 6C. The cells were non-motile short rods (1.0–1.4 mm in width and 1.6–2.6 mm in length) and the major fatty acids were C 18 : 1 v7c and 11-methyl C 18 : 1 v7c. The genomic DNA G+C content was 72.0 mol% and the predominant lipoquinone was Q-10. The major cellular phospholipids were phosphatidylglycerol, diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine and phosphatidylcholine. Phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain DS2 T formed a distinct phyletic line from the genus Rubrimonas within the Alphaproteobacteria. The levels of 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity with respect to the type strains of related genera were below 94 %. On the basis of physiological and phylogenetic properties, strain DS2 T represents a novel genus and species of the Alphaproteobacteria, for which the name Albimonas donghaensis gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is DS2 T (5KCTC 12586 T 5DSM 17890 T ). Since Sato (1978) reported on aerobic methylotrophs containing bacteriochlorophyll a, a range of aerobic, anoxygenic, phototrophic bacteria have been described (Imhoff et al., 1984; Hiraishi & Ueda, 1995; Suzuki et al., 1999, 2006; Albuquerque et al., 2002; Sorokin et al., 2005; Biebl et al., 2007). However, a non-pigmented micro- organism, Albidovulum inexpectatum, which is closely related to the genera Rhodovulum, Thioclava and Rhodobacter but does not produce bacteriochlorophyll a, was isolated recently from a marine hot spring (Albuquerque et al., 2002). In this study, we also isolated (from seawater of the East Sea in Korea) a slightly halophilic non-pigmented bacterium that did not produce bacteriochlorophyll a. The isolate was not phototrophic but 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis showed that it was closely related to the genus Rubrimonas and analysis of phylogenetic and chemotaxonomic characteristics indi- cated that the isolate represented a new genus of the class Alphaproteobacteria. Strain DS2 T was isolated from seawater from the East Sea in Korea by means of the serial dilution plating method, using incubation on marine agar 2216 (MA; Difco) at 28 u C for 3 days. Subcultivation was done on MA at 30 u C for 2–3 days. NaCl requirements and tolerance were determined in nutrient broth (Difco) supplemented with modified artificial seawater containing (l 21 ): 0–20 % (w/v) NaCl (increments of 1 %), 5.94 g MgSO 4 . 7H 2 O, 4.53 g MgCl 2 . 6H 2 O, 0.64 g KCl and 1.3 g CaCl 2 . Growth was tested at different temperatures (4–50 u C) and pH values (5.0–10.0) in marine broth (Gomori, 1955). Cell morpho- logy and flagellation were investigated using light micro- scopy and transmission electron microscopy (JEM-1010; JEOL), as described previously (Jeon et al., 2005). Gram staining was determined using the bioMe ´rieux Gram stain kit according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Oxidase activity was tested using a Bactident oxidase strip (Merck) 3These authors contributed equally to this work. The GenBank/EMBL/DDBJ accession number for the 16S rRNA gene sequence of strain DS2 T is DQ280370. A transmission electron micrograph of cells of strain DS2 T is available as a supplementary figure with the online version of this paper. International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology (2008), 58, 282–285 DOI 10.1099/ijs.0.65429-0 282 65429 G 2008 IUMS Printed in Great Britain