Haloferula rosea gen. nov., sp. nov., Haloferula harenae sp. nov., Haloferula phyci sp. nov., Haloferula helveola sp. nov. and Haloferula sargassicola sp. nov., five marine representatives of the family Verrucomicrobiaceae within the phylum 'Verrucomicrobia'.

Six Gram-negative, non-motile, rod-shaped, chemoheterotrophic bacteria designated strains YM23-227(T), 06SJR1-1(T), AK18-024(T), 05IJR53-1(T), MN1-1037(T) and MN1-1047 were isolated from various marine environments and subjected to a polyphasic taxonomic study. Preliminary analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that the novel isolates could be affiliated with the family Verrucomicrobiaceae of the phylum 'Verrucomicrobia'. The strains shared approximately 94-100 % sequence similarity with each other and showed less than 94 % similarity with members of the family Verrucomicrobiaceae with validly published names. The DNA-DNA relatedness between strains YM23-227(T) and 06SJR1-1(T) was less than 70 %, a value that is accepted as a phylogenetic definition of a species. The cell wall peptidoglycan of the strains contained muramic acid and meso-diaminopimelic acid. The novel isolates produced carotenoid pigments and squalene. The DNA G+C contents of the six strains were 63-65 mol%. The major menaquinone was MK-9 and iso-C(14 : 0) was the major fatty acid. Based on the evidence from the polyphasic taxonomic study, it was concluded that the six strains should be classified as representing a new genus and five novel species of the family Verrucomicrobiaceae within the phylum 'Verrucomicrobia', for which the names Haloferula rosea gen. nov., sp. nov. (type strain 06SJR1-1(T)=MBIC08340(T)=KCTC 22201(T)), Haloferula harenae sp. nov. (type strain YM23-227(T)=MBIC08299(T)=KCTC 22198(T)), Haloferula phyci sp. nov. (type strain AK18-024(T)=MBIC08341(T)=KCTC 22200(T)), Haloferula helveola sp. nov. (type strain 05IJR53-1(T)=MBIC08342(T)=KCTC 22199(T)) and Haloferula sargassicola sp. nov. (type strain MN1-1037(T)=MBIC08343(T)=KCTC 22202(T)) are proposed.