Alteromonas litorea sp. nov., a sllightly halophilic bacterium isolated from an intertidal sediment of the Yellow Sea in Korea

A Gram-negative, motile, non-spore-forming, rod-shaped bacterium, designated strain TF-22, was isolated from an intertidal sediment in Korea. This organism grew optimally at 30-37 °C and in the presence of 2-5% (w/v) NaCl. It did not grow without NaCl or in the presence of more than 14% (w/v) NaCl. Strain TF-22 was characterized chemotaxonomically as having ubiquinone-8 as the predominant respiratory lipoquinone and C, C ω7c and/or iso-C 2-OH and C ω7c as the major fatty acids. The DNA G+C content of strain TF-22 was 46.0 mol%. Phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rDNA sequences showed that strain TF-22 falls within the γ-subclass of the Proteobacteria and forms a coherent cluster with Alteromonas macleodii and Alteromonas marina. Levels of 16S rDNA similarity between strain TF-22 and the type strains of two Alteromonas species were in the range 98.1-98.6%. The level of DNA-DNA relatedness between strain TF-22 and the type strains of two Alteromonas species was 15.7-18.5%. Therefore, on the basis of phenotypic properties, phylogeny and genomic distinctiveness, strain TF-22 should be placed in the genus Alteromonas as a novel species, for which the name Alteromonas litorea sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is TF-22 (=KCCM 41775=JCM 12188). © 2004 IUMS.