Loktanella marina sp. nov., isolated from seawater

A Gram-stain-negative, coccoid- or short-rod-shaped and non-motile bacterial strain, designated MDM-7^T, was isolated from seawater of the Yellow Sea, South Korea, and was subjected to a polyphasic taxonomic study. Strain MDM-7^T grew optimally at pH 7.0-8.0, at 30 °C and in the presence of 2-3 % (w/v) NaCl. The neighbour-joining phylogenetic tree based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain MDM-7^T fell within the clade comprising species of the genus Loktanella, clustering with the type strains of Loktanella vestfoldensisand Loktanella agnita, with which it exhibited 96.1 and 95.6 % similarity, respectively. 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity values between strain MDM-7^T and the type strains of other Loktanella species were 93.1-95.0 %. The DNA G+C content of strain MDM-7^T was 62.6 mol%. Strain MDM-7^T contained Q-10 as the predominant ubiquinone and summed feature 8 (C18 : 1ω7c and/ or C18 : 1ω6c) as the major fatty acid. The major polar lipids were diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylglycerol and an unidentified aminolipid. Differential phenotypic properties, together with phylogenetic distinctiveness, demonstrated that strain MDM-7^T is distinguishable from recognized Loktanella species. On the basis of the data presented, strain MDM-7^T is considered to represent a novel species of the genus Loktanella, for which the name Loktanella marina sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is MDM-7^T (=KCTC 42722^T=CECT 8899^T).