Gallaecimonas xiamenensis sp. nov., isolated from seawater

A taxonomic study was carried out on a novel bacterium, designated strain 3-C-1(T), which was isolated from a crude-oil-degrading consortium produced by enrichment of a sample of surface seawater collected near Xiamen Island in China. Cells of the novel strain were Gram-reaction-negative, oxidase- and catalase-positive, rod-shaped, motile and amphitrichous. Growth was observed with 0-12 % (w/v) NaCl and at temperatures of 10-42 °C. The novel strain was incapable of nitrate reduction. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that strain 3-C-1(T) belonged to the genus Gallaecimonas and was most closely related to Gallaecimonas pentaromativorans CEE_131(T) (with sequence similarities of 96.5-96.8 %). The gyrB gene sequence of strain 3-C-1(T) was also similar to that of G. pentaromativorans CEE_131(T) (89.4 % sequence similarity). The results of PCR-based comparison of repetitive extragenic palindromic elements (Rep-PCR fingerprinting) allowed strain 3-C-1(T) to be distinguished from G. pentaromativorans CEE_131(T). The principal fatty acids of the novel strain were C16 : 0, C12 : 0 3-OH, summed feature 3 (C16 : 1ω6c and/or C16 : 1ω7c) and summed feature 8 (C18 : 1ω6c and/or C18 : 1ω7c). The G+C content of the novel strain's genomic DNA was 61.3 mol%. The combined genotypic and phenotypic data indicate that strain 3-C-1(T) represents a novel species of the genus Gallaecimonas, for which the name Gallaecimonas xiamenensis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is 3-C-1(T) ( = CCTCC AB 209060(T)  = LMG 25226(T)  = MCCC 1A01354(T)).