Flavimarina flava sp. nov., isolated from Salicornia herbacea

A Gram-stain-negative, motile-by-gliding, aerobic, non-spore-forming, rod-shaped and yellow-pigmented bacterium was isolated from Salicornia herbacea in the Yellow Sea and designated as strain MBLN091^T. It belonged to the family Flavobacteriaceae. The 16S rRNA gene sequence of this isolated strain was similar to that of Flavimarina pacifica IDSW-73^T with 94.8 % similarity, and with 92.3-92.8 % similarities to those of other closely related species of the genus Leeuwenhoekiella. The similarities of the RNA polymerase subunit B gene between this strain and F. pacifica KCTC 32466^T and Leeuwenhoekiella marinoflava DSM 3653^T were 80.5 and 80.2 %, respectively. Growth of strain MBLN091^T was observed in the presence of 0.5‒15.0 % (w/v) NaCl at 4‒35 °C and pH 6.0-8.0, with optimal growth in the presence of 2.5‒5.0 % (w/v) NaCl at 20‒25 °C and pH 7.0. This isolate was able to hydrolyse gelatin. The only respiratory quinone was MK-6. The major polar lipids were phosphatidylethanolamine, an unidentified aminolipid and two unidentified lipids. Major fatty acids of the isolate were iso-C15 : 0, summed feature 3 (C16 : 1 ω7c and/or C16 : 1 ω6c), iso-C17 : 0 3-OH and iso-C15 : 1 G. The genomic DNA G+C content was 39.6 mol%. The physiological features were closely related to F. pacifica. Therefore, strain MBLN091^T is considered to represent a novel species within the genus Flavimarina, for which the name Flavimarina flava sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is MBLN091^T (=KCTC 52527^T=JCM 31731^T).