Halocynthiibacter arcticus sp. nov., isolated from Arctic marine sediment

A Gram-staining-negative, oxidase- and catalase-positive, non-motile, aerobic and rod-shaped bacterium producing white colonies, PAMC 20958^T, was isolated from a marine sediment of the Arctic. PAMC 20958^T grew at 10-27 °C (optimally at 21 °C), at pH 5.5-9.5 (optimally at pH 7.0-7.5) and in the presence of 0.5-7.5 % (w/v) (optimally at 2.0 %) NaCl. PAMC 20958^T showed 97.5 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity with Halocynthiibacter namhaensis KCTC 32362^T and formed a robust phylogenetic clade with this species. The average nucleotide identity value between strain PAMC 20958^T and H. namhaensis KCTC 32362^T was 79.7 % and the genome-to-genome distance was 13.0 % on average. The genomic DNA G+C content calculated from the genome sequence was 53.2 mol%. The major fatty acids were C_18 : 1ω7c and/or C_18 : 1ω6c. The major respiratory isoprenoid quinone was ubiquinone-10 (Q-10) and major polar lipids were phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylglycerol, an unidentified aminolipid and two unidentified lipids. On the basis of phylogenetic analysis and genotypic and phenotypic data obtained in this study, it is concluded that strain PAMC 20958^T ( = KCTC 42129^T = JCM 30530^T) represents the type strain of a novel species of the genus Halocynthiibacter, for which the name Halocynthiibacter arcticus sp. nov. is proposed.