Thiorhodococcus modestalkaliphilus sp. nov. a phototrophic gammaproteobacterium from Chilika salt water lagoon, India.

A phototrophic gammaproteobacterium designated strain JA395(T) was isolated from a sediment sample collected from the coast of Birds' Island in the southern sector of Chilika Lagoon, India. The bacterium is a Gram-negative, motile coccus with a single polar flagellum. Bacteriochlorophyll a, and lycopene as major carotenoid. C(16:0), C(16:1)omega7c/C(16:1)omega6c and C(18:1)omega7c are the major cellular fatty acids of strain JA395(T). The 16S rRNA gene sequence of strain JA395(T) clusters with those of species of the genus Thiorhodococcus belonging to the class Gammaproteobacteria. The highest sequence similarities of strain JA395(T) were found with the type strains of Thiorhodococcus minor (96.8%), Thiorhodococcus mannitoliphagus (96.3%), Thiorhodococcus bheemlicus (95.8%), "Thiorhodococcus drewsii" (95.4%), and Thiorhodococcus kakinadensis (95.0%). The genomic DNA base composition of strain JA395(T) (=KCTC 5710(T)=NBRC 104958(T)) was 57.8 mol% G + C (by HPLC). Based on the 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, morphological and physiological characteristics, strain JA395(T) is sufficiently different from other Thiorhodococcus species and we describe this as a new species, Thiorhodococcus modestalkaliphilus sp. nov.