Zhongshania aliphaticivorans sp. nov., an aliphatic hydrocarbon-degrading bacterium isolated from marine sediment, And transfer of Spongiibacter borealis Jang et al. 2011 to the genus Zhongshania as Zhongshania borealis comb. nov

A Gram-staining-negative, facultatively aerobic bacterium, designated SM-2, was isolated from a sea-tidal flat of Yellow Sea, South Korea. Cells were catalase-and oxidase-positive motile rods with a single polar flagellum. Growth of strain SM-2was observed at 10-37 6C (optimum, 25-30 °C), at pH 5.5-8.5 (optimum, pH 7.0-7.5) and in the presence of 0-11% (w/v) NaCl (optimum, 2 %). Strain SM-2contained ubiquinone-8 (Q-8) as the sole isoprenoid quinone and Cω8c, summed feature 3 (comprising Cω7c and/or iso-C2-OH), Cand Cω7c as the major fatty acids. Phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol, diphosphatidylglycerol and an unidentified lipid were identified as the major cellular polar lipids. The G+C content of the genomic DNA was 52.2 mol%. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain SM-2T formed a tight phyletic lineage with Zhongshania antarctica ZS5-23, Zhongshania guokunii ZS6-22and Spongiibacter borealis CL-AS9, but that S. borealis CL-AS9was distinct from other species of the genus Spongiibacter. Based on 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities, strain SM-2was most closely related to S. borealis CL-AS9, Z. antarctica ZS5-23and Z. guokunii ZS6-22, with similarities of 99.5 %, 98.9% and 98.7 %, respectively, but the DNA-DNA hybridization values among these species were clearly lower than 70 %. On the basis of chemotaxonomic data and molecular properties, we propose strain SM-2represents a novel species of the genus Zhongshania with the name Zhongshania aliphaticivorans sp. nov. (type strain SM-2=KACC 18120=JCM 30138). We also propose the transfer of Spongiibacter borealis Jang et al. 2011 to the genus Zhongshania as Zhongshania borealis comb. nov. (type strain CL-AS9=KCCM 90094=JCM 17304).