Lutibacter aestuarii sp. nov., isolated from a tidal flat sediment, and emended description of the genus Lutibacter Choi and Cho 2006.

A gram-negative, non-spore-forming, non-motile rod, designated MA-My1(T), was isolated from a tidal flat sediment of the South Sea, Korea. Strain MA-My1(T) grew optimally at pH 7.0-7.5, at 30 °C and with 2.0-3.0 % (w/v) NaCl. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that strain MA-My1(T) clustered with Lutibacter litoralis CL-TF09(T) and Lutibacter maritimus S7-2(T), with which it exhibited 97.3 and 95.3 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity, respectively. Strain MA-My1(T) contained MK-6 as the predominant menaquinone and iso-C(15 : 0), iso-C(15 : 0) 3-OH and iso-C(16 : 0) 3-OH as the major fatty acids. The major polar lipids were phosphatidylethanolamine and two unidentified lipids. The DNA G+C content was 30.6 mol% and DNA-DNA relatedness between strain MA-My1(T) and L. litoralis JCM 13034(T) was 6.3±0.8 %. The differential phenotypic properties, together with phylogenetic and genotypic distinctiveness, distinguished strain MA-My1(T) from the members of the genus Lutibacter. On the basis of the data presented, strain MA-My1(T) is considered to represent a novel species of the genus Lutibacter, for which the name Lutibacter aestuarii sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is MA-My1(T) ( = KCTC 23499(T)  = CCUG 60022(T)).