Idiomarina planktonica sp. nov., isolated from a saline lake.

A Gram-stain-negative bacterium, strain TS-T11(T), was isolated from Tuosu lake, a saline lake (salinity 5.4%, w/v) in the Qaidam basin, Qinghai province, China. Its taxonomic position was determined by using a polyphasic approach. Cells of strain TS-T11(T) were non-spore-forming rods, 0.6-0.8 µm wide and 0.8-2.2 µm long, and motile by means of a single polar flagellum. Strain TS-T11(T) was strictly heterotrophic and aerobic. Cells were positive for catalase and oxidase. Growth was observed in the presence of 0.5-11.0% (w/v) NaCl (optimum 4.0-6.0%), at 4-40 °C (optimum 30-35 °C) and at pH 6.0-10.5 (optimum pH 7.5-8.5). Strain TS-T11(T) contained iso-C15:0, iso-C17:0 and iso-C17:1ω9c as the predominant fatty acids (>10%). The major respiratory quinone was Q-8. The polar lipids consisted of a mixture of phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol, diphosphatidylglycerol and nine uncharacterized phospholipids. The G+C content of genomic DNA was 46.8 mol% (Tm). Phylogenetic trees based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain TS-T11(T) was associated with the genus Idiomarina, and showed highest 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity to Idiomarina aestuarii KYW314(T) (97.4%) and Idiomarina salinarum ISL-52(T) (97.4%). DNA-DNA relatedness of strain TS-T11(T) to I. aestuarii JCM 16344(T) and I. salinarum DSM 21900(T) was 22.2 ± 2.4 and 11.5 ± 1.6%, respectively. Based on the data presented above, it was concluded that strain TS-T11(T) represents a novel species of the genus Idiomarina, for which the name Idiomarina planktonica sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is TS-T11(T) ( = CGMCC 1.12458(T) = JCM 19263(T)).