Marinobacter koreensis sp. nov., isolated from sea sand in Korea.

A marine, Gram-negative, aerobic, motile, straight-rod-shaped, moderately halophilic bacterium, designated strain DD-M3T, was isolated from sea sand in Pohang, Korea. A phylogenetic tree based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that the strain fell within the evolutionary radiation encompassed by the genus Marinobacter. The levels of 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity between the novel strain and the type strains of recognized Marinobacter species ranged from 94.2 to 97.6%, the highest values being with Marinobacter flavimaris SW-145T (97.6%) and Marinobacter lipolyticus SM19T (96.8%). The values for DNA-DNA relatedness between isolate DD-M3T and the type strains of the most closely related species, M. flavimaris and M. lipolyticus, were 41 and 36%, respectively. Strain DD-M3T was characterized as having Q-9 as the predominant respiratory quinone and 16:0, summed feature 3 and 18:1omega9c as the main fatty acids. The DNA G+C content was 54.1 mol%. On the basis of its phenotypic and genotypic characteristics, DD-M3T represents a novel species of the genus Marinobacter, for which the name Marinobacter koreensis sp. nov. is proposed, with DD-M3T (=KACC 11513T=DSM 17924T) as the type strain.