Additions to the genus Gimesia: description of Gimesia alba sp. nov., Gimesia algae sp. nov., Gimesia aquarii sp. nov., Gimesia aquatilis sp. nov., Gimesia fumaroli sp. nov. and Gimesia panareensis sp. nov., isolated from aquatic habitats of the Northern Hemisphere.

Thirteen novel planctomycetal strains were isolated from five different aquatic sampling locations. These comprise the hydrothermal vent system close to Panarea Island (Italy), a biofilm on the surface of kelp at Monterey Bay (CA, USA), sediment and algae on Mallorca Island (Spain) and Helgoland Island (Germany), as well as a seawater aquarium in Braunschweig, Germany. All strains were shown to belong to the genus Gimesia. Their genomes cover a size range from 7.22 to 8.29 Mb and have a G+C content between 45.1 and 53.7%. All strains are mesophilic (T 26-33 °C) with generation times between 12 and 32 h. Analysis of fatty acids yielded palmitic acid (16:0) and a fatty acid with the equivalent chain length of 15.817 as major compounds. While five of the novel strains belong to the already described species Gimesia maris and Gimesia chilikensis, the other strains belong to novel species, for which we propose the names Gimesia alba (type strain Pan241w = DSM 100744 = LMG 31345 = CECT 9841 = VKM B-3430), Gimesia algae (type strain Pan161 = CECT 30192 = STH00943 = LMG 29130), Gimesia aquarii (type strain V144 = DSM 101710 = VKM B-3433), Gimesia fumaroli (type strain Enr17 = DSM 100710 = VKM B-3429) and Gimesia panareensis (type strain Enr10 = DSM 100416 = LMG 29082). STH numbers refer to the Jena Microbial Resource Collection (JMRC).