Pseudoruegeria haliotis sp. nov., isolated from the gut of the abalone Haliotis discus hannai.

A novel Gram-negative, aerobic, non-motile and rod-shaped bacterium, designated strain WM67(T), was isolated from the gut of an abalone (Haliotis discus hannai) collected from the northern coast of Jeju Island in Korea. Phylogenetic analyses based on the 16S rRNA gene sequence indicated that strain WM67(T) clustered in the genus Pseudoruegeria, and the highest sequence similarity was shared with Pseudoruegeria lutimaris (98.0 % similarity to the type strain). Optimal growth of the isolate occurred at 30 °C, pH 7-8 and with 1 % (w/v) NaCl. The major cellular fatty acids were summed feature 8 (C18 : 1ω7c and/or C18 : 1ω6c) and C16 : 0. Ubiquinone Q-10 was the major respiratory quinone. The polar lipids of strain WM67(T) comprised phosphatidylserine, phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, an unidentified glycolipid and three unidentified lipids. The genomic DNA G+C content was 66.5 mol%. DNA-DNA hybridization indicated <17 % genomic relatedness to other members of the genus Pseudoruegeria. The physiological, biochemical, chemotaxonomic and genotypic analyses indicated that strain WM67(T) represents a novel species of Pseudoruegeria, for which the name Pseudoruegeria haliotis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is WM67(T) ( = KACC 17214(T) = JCM 18872(T)).