Formosa maritima sp. nov., isolated from coastal sediment

A Gram-stain-negative, strictly aerobic, gliding-motile, rod-shaped and orange-pigmented bacterium, designated 1494^T, was isolated from marine sediment collected off the coast of Weihai, PR China. Strain 1494^T was found to grow at 4-37 °C (optimum, 30 °C), at pH 6.0-9.0 (pH 7.0) and in the presence of 0-8 % (w/v) NaCl (2 %). Cells were positive for oxidase and catalase activity. The results of 16S rRNA gene based phylogenetic analysis revealed that strain 1494^T belonged to the genus Formosa and exhibited the highest sequence similarity to Formosa spongicola KCTC 22662 ^T (98.4 %). Menaquinone-6 (MK-6) was detected as the major respiratory quinone. The dominant cellular fatty acids were iso-C_15 : 1 G and iso-C_15 : 0. The DNA G+C content of strain 1494^T was 31.1 mol%. The major polar lipids included phosphatidylethanolamine, one unidentified phospholipid and one unidentified lipid. Based on its phylogenetic and phenotypic characteristics, strain 1494^T is considered to represent a novel species from the genus Formosa, for which the name Formosa maritima sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is 1494^T (=KCTC 72531^T=MCCC 1H00385^T).