Draconibacterium halophilum sp. nov., A Halophilic Bacterium Isolated from Marine Sediment.

A Gram-stain-negative, long-rod shaped, and facultatively anaerobic bacterium, designated as strain M1, was isolated from the marine sediment of Jeju Island, South Korea. Strain M1 was found to be catalase- and oxidase-positive, light yellow-pigmented, non-motile, and non-flagellated, growing optimally at 30 °C, pH 7.0, and in the presence of 3% (w/v) NaCl. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that strain M1 belongs to the genus Draconibacterium and is closely related to Draconibacterium orientale FH5 (97.2%), Draconibacterium sediminis JN14CK-3 (96.5%), "Draconibacterium filum" F2 (96.5%) and Draconibacterium mangrovi GM2-18 (96.3% sequence similarity). The values for digital DNA-DNA hybridization ranged from 37.6 to 38.3% against D. orientale FH5, D. sediminis KN14CK-3, and D. mangrovi GM2-18, clearly indicating that strain M1 represents a distinct species of the genus Draconibacterium. Strain M1 has a 40.0% G + C content estimated by genome sequence, menaquinone 7 as the sole respiratory quinone, C anteiso and C iso as the major fatty acids, and phosphatidylethanolamine, an unidentified phospholipid, and unidentified lipids as the polar lipids. Based on the polyphasic characteristics, it is suggested that strain M1 be assigned to the genus Draconibacterium as the type strain of a novel species, for which the name Draconibacterium halophilum sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is M1 (= KCTC 72809 = VTCC 910107).