sp. nov., a bacterium isolated from marine sediment in the East China Sea.

A Gram-stain-negative, ovoid-shaped, motile and strictly aerobic bacterium, designated ZQ172, was isolated from marine sediment sampled on Zhoushan Island located in the East China Sea. Strain ZQ172 grew optimally at temperatures of 25-30 °C, at NaCl concentration of 2.0 % (w/v) and at pH 7.0-8.5. Catalase and oxidase activities, urease, and nitrate reduction were positive. Indole production, methyl red reaction, HS production and hydrolysis of gelatin, starch, casein and Tweens 20, 40, 60 and 80 were negative. The major cellular fatty acid was summed feature 8 (C 7 and/or C 6). The only respiratory quinone was ubiquinone-10. The major polar lipids were phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol, diphosphatidylglycerol and phosphatidylcholine. Comparative analysis of the 16S rRNA gene sequence showed highest similarities to JC2049 (97.5 %), JAMH 043 (97.5 %) and CECT 7735 (97.3 %). Phylogenetic analyses indicated that strain ZQ172 clustered with the genus and was closely related to CECT 7735. The average nucleotide identity and digital DNA-DNA hybridization values between strain ZQ172 and related species of the genus were well below the threshold limit for prokaryotic species delineation. The DNA G+C content was 59.6 mol%. Based on its phenotypic, chemotaxonomic and genotypic data, strain ZQ172 is considered to be a representative of a novel species in the genus , for which the name sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is ZQ172 (=KCTC 62578=MCCC 1K03531).