Mariniluteicoccus endophyticus sp. nov., an endophytic actinobacterium isolated from root of Ocimum basilicum

Two strains of Gram-stain-positive, aerobic, non-motile, irregular coccus-shaped bacteria, designated YIM 2617^T and YIM 2617-2, were isolated from the root of Ocimum basilicum. Phylogenetic analysis on the basis of 16S rRNA gene sequence comparison revealed that the two strains were closely related to Mariniluteicoccus flavus YIM M13146^T (98.1 and 98.0 % similarities, respectively) and formed a robust clade with M. flavus in the neighbour-joining tree. Optimum growth of the strains was observed at 28-32 °C, at pH 7.0-8.0 and in the presence of 0-2 % (w/v) NaCl. The chemotaxonomic profiles of the strains comprised anteiso-C_15 : 0 as the major cellular fatty acid, MK-9(H₄) as the predominant menaquinone, alanine, glycine, glutamic acid and ll-diaminopimelic acid as peptidoglycan components, and phosphatidylcholine and diphosphatidylglycerol as the major polar lipids. The G+C contents of the genomic DNA of strains YIM 2617^T and YIM 2617-2 were 66.4 and 66.6 mol%, respectively. DNA-DNA hybridizations of the two strains with M. flavus YIM M13146^T gave mean relatedness values of 47.6 ± 2.0 and 43.2 ± 1.5 %, respectively, while the relatedness value between them was 92.1 ± 2.2 %. On the basis of the data recorded from the present study, strains YIM 2617^T and YIM 2617-2 represent a novel species of the genus Mariniluteicoccus, for which the name Mariniluteicoccus endophyticus sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is YIM 2617^T ( = KCTC 29482^T = DSM 28728^T = JCM 30097^T).