Leeia speluncae sp. nov., isolated from Stegodon Sea Cave in Thailand

A novel Gram-stain-negative, obligately aerobic, short rod-shaped and motile bacterium, designated strain BC00092^T, was isolated from brackish ground water collected in Stegodon Sea Cave located at Satun UNESCO Global Geopark, Satun Province, Thailand. The phylogenetic analysis of BC00092^T based on 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that the strain represented a member of the genus Leeia and was closely related to Leeia oryzae DSM 17879^T (96.68 %) and Leeia aquatica IMCC25680^T (94.89 %). The average nucleotide identity and digital DNA-DNA hybridization values calculated from the whole-genome sequences between BC00092^T and closely related type strains of species within the family Leeiaceae were lower than the species demarcation threshold values of 95 and 70 %, respectively. Moreover, five conserved signature indels of members of the family Leeiaceae were found in the protein sequences from the annotated assembled genome of BC00092^T. According to the results of the polyphasic taxonomic study, strain BC00092^T represents a novel species within the genus Leeia, for which the name Leeia speluncae sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is BC00092^T (TBRC 13508^T = KCTC 92111^T).