Cocleimonas flava gen. nov., sp. nov., a gammaproteobacterium isolated from sand snail (Umbonium costatum).

A Gram-stain-negative, aerobic, yellow-pigmented, heterotrophic, sulfur-oxidizing, non-motile, rod-shaped bacterium, designated KMM 3898(T), was isolated from an internal tissue of the sand snail Umbonium costatum, collected from the shallow sediments of the Sea of Japan. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain KMM 3898(T) formed a distinct phylogenetic lineage within the class Gammaproteobacteria and was most closely related to Leucothrix mucor DSM 2157(T) (89.2 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity) and members of the genus Thiothrix (86.7-88.5 %). Chemotaxonomically, strain KMM 3898(T) contained the isoprenoid quinone Q-8, the polar lipids phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol, diphosphatidylglycerol and an unknown phospholipid and the fatty acids C(18 : 1)ω7c, C(16 : 1)ω7c and C(16 : 0) as predominant components (>10 %). The DNA G+C content of strain KMM 3898(T) was 43.4 mol%. On the basis of phenotypic features and phylogenetic analysis, strain KMM 3898(T) represents a novel genus and species, for which the name Cocleimonas flava gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is KMM 3898(T) (=NRIC 0757(T) =JCM 16494(T)).