Rubritalea halochordaticola sp. nov., a carotenoid-producing verrucomicrobial species isolated from a marine chordate.

A gram-negative-staining, obligately aerobic, non-motile, rod-shaped and chemoheterotrophic bacterium, designated strain MN1-1006(T), was isolated from an ascidian (sea squirt) sample, and was studied using a polyphasic taxonomic approach. Phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that the new isolate shared approximately 93-99% sequence similarity with recognized species of the genus Rubritalea within the phylum 'Verrucomicrobia'. DNA-DNA hybridization values between strain MN1-1006(T) and Rubritalea squalenifaciens HOact23(T) and Rubritalea sabuli YM29-052(T) were 57% and 14.5%, respectively. Strain MN1-1006(T) produced carotenoid compounds that rendered the cell biomass a reddish pink colour. The strain also contained squalene. The cell-wall peptidoglycan of the novel strain contained muramic acid and meso-diaminopimelic acid. The DNA G+C content of strain MN1-1006(T) was 51.4 mol%. The major cellular fatty acids were iso-C(14:0), iso-C(16:0) and anteiso-C(15:0). The major isoprenoid quinone was MK-9. On the basis of these data, it was concluded that strain MN1-1006(T) represents a novel species of the genus Rubritalea, for which the name Rubritalea halochordaticola sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is MN1-1006(T )( = KCTC 23186(T) = NBRC 107102(T)).