Haloferula luteola sp. nov., an endophytic bacterium isolated from the root of a halophyte, Rosa rugosa, and emended description of the genus Haloferula.

A Gram-negative, non-spore-forming, endophytic bacterium, strain YC6886(T), was isolated from the root of a halophyte, Rosa rugosa, which inhabits coastal areas of Namhae Island off the southern coast of Korea. Cells were non-motile, obligately aerobic rods and formed pale-yellow colonies. The isolate grew at 4-32 °C (optimum 25-28 °C) and at pH 6.5-9.5 (optimum pH 7.5) and grew optimally with 2-3 % (w/v) NaCl, but NaCl was not an absolute requirement for growth. Strain YC6886(T) produced yellow carotenoid pigments. Strain YC6886(T) exhibited the highest 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity with Haloferula sargassicola MN1-1037(T) (97.4 %). Sequence similarities between strain YC6886(T) and other members of the genus Haloferula were 93.9-94.7 %. DNA-DNA relatedness between strain YC6886(T) and H. sargassicola KCTC 22202(T) and Haloferula rosea KCTC 22201(T) was 27 and 15 %, respectively. The major fatty acids were iso-C(14 : 0), C(16 : 0) and C(16 : 1)ω9c and minor components were C(14 : 0), C(18 : 0) and anteiso-C(15 : 0). The major respiratory quinone was menaquinone 9 and the DNA G+C content was 58.5 mol%. The polar lipid profile was composed of diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol, an unknown phospholipid and an unknown phosphoglycolipid. On the basis of phenotypic, chemotaxonomic, DNA-DNA hybridization and phylogenetic analysis, strain YC6886(T) represents a novel species in the genus Haloferula, for which the name Haloferula luteola sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is YC6886(T) ( = KCTC 22447(T)  = DSM 21608(T)). An emended description of the genus Haloferula is also presented.