Draconibacterium halophilum sp. nov., A Halophilic Bacterium Isolated from Marine Sediment

A Gram-stain-negative, long-rod shaped, and facultatively anaerobic bacterium, designated as strain M1^T, was isolated from the marine sediment of Jeju Island, South Korea. Strain M1^T was found to be catalase- and oxidase-positive, light yellow-pigmented, non-motile, and non-flagellated, growing optimally at 30 °C, pH 7.0, and in the presence of 3% (w/v) NaCl. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that strain M1^T belongs to the genus Draconibacterium and is closely related to Draconibacterium orientale FH5^T (97.2%), Draconibacterium sediminis JN14CK-3 ^T (96.5%), "Draconibacterium filum" F2^T (96.5%) and Draconibacterium mangrovi GM2-18 ^T (96.3% sequence similarity). The values for digital DNA-DNA hybridization ranged from 37.6 to 38.3% against D. orientale FH5^T, D. sediminis KN14CK-3 ^T, and D. mangrovi GM2-18 ^T, clearly indicating that strain M1^T represents a distinct species of the genus Draconibacterium. Strain M1^T has a 40.0% G + C content estimated by genome sequence, menaquinone 7 as the sole respiratory quinone, C_15:0 anteiso and C_15:0 iso as the major fatty acids, and phosphatidylethanolamine, an unidentified phospholipid, and unidentified lipids as the polar lipids. Based on the polyphasic characteristics, it is suggested that strain M1^T be assigned to the genus Draconibacterium as the type strain of a novel species, for which the name Draconibacterium halophilum sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is M1^T (= KCTC 72809 ^T = VTCC 910107 ^T).