Shewanella polaris sp. nov., a psychrotolerant bacterium isolated from Arctic brown algae

A Gram-stain-negative, facultatively anaerobic, flagellated and rod-shaped bacterium, designated strain SM1901^T, was isolated from a brown algal sample collected from Kings Bay, Svalbard, Arctic. Strain SM1901^T grew at -4‒30 °C and with 0-7.0 % (w/v) NaCl. It reduced nitrate to nitrite and hydrolysed DNA and Tween 80. Results of phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that strain SM1901^T was affiliated with the genus Shewanella, showing the highest sequence similarity to the type strain of Shewanella litoralis (97.5%), followed by those of Shewanella vesiculosa, Shewanella livingstonensis and Shewanella saliphila (97.3 % for all three). The major cellular fatty acids were summed feature 3 (C_16 : 1 ω7с and/or C_16 : 1 ω6с), C_16 : 0, C_18 : 0, iso-C_15 : 0 and C_17 : 1 ω8с and the major polar lipids were phosphatidylethanolamine and phosphatidylglycerol. The respiratory quinones were ubiquinones Q-7, Q-8, menaquinones MK-7(H) and MK-8. The genome of strain SM1901^T was 4648537 nucleotides long and encoded a variety of cold adaptation related genes, providing clues for better understanding the ecological adaptation mechanisms of polar bacteria. The genomic DNA G+C content of strain SM1901^T was 40.5 mol%. Based on the polyphasic evidence presented in this paper, strain SM1901^T was considered to represent a novel species, constituting a novel psychrotolerant lineage out of the known SF clade encompassed by polar Shewanella species, within the genus Shewanella, for which the name Shewanella polaris sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is SM1901^T (=KCTC 72047^T=MCCC 1K03585^T).