Aliiglaciecola aliphaticivorans sp. nov., an aliphatic hydrocarbon-degrading bacterium, isolated from a sea-tidal flat and emended description of the genus Aliiglaciecola Jean et al. 2013.

A Gram-stain-negative heterotrophic bacterium, designated GSD6(T), capable of growth on aliphatic hydrocarbons as a sole carbon and energy source, was isolated from sea-tidal flat sediment of the Yellow Sea, South Korea. Cells were facultatively aerobic, catalase- and oxidase-positive, motile rods with a single polar flagellum. Growth of strain GSD6(T) was observed at 4-37 °C (optimum 30 °C), at pH 5.5-9.0 (optimum pH 6.5-7.5) and in the presence of 1-9% (w/v) NaCl (optimum 2%). Strain GSD6(T) contained ubiquinone-8 (Q-8) as the sole isoprenoid quinone and summed feature 3 (comprising C16 : 1ω7c and/or iso-C15 : 0 2-OH), C16 : 0, C18 : 1ω7c, C17  : 0 10-methyl and C17 : 1ω8c as the major fatty acids. Phosphatidylethanolamine and phosphatidylglycerol were identified as the major polar lipids. The G+C content of the genomic DNA was 44.6 mol%. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain GSD6(T) formed a phylogenetic lineage with members of the genus Aliiglaciecola . Strain GSD6(T) was most closely related to Aliiglaciecola lipolytica E3(T) with a 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity of 97.4%, but their DNA-DNA hybridization value was 39.1 ± 7.1%. On the basis of phenotypic, chemotaxonomic and molecular features, strain GSD6(T) represents a novel species of the genus Aliiglaciecola , for which the name Aliiglaciecola aliphaticivorans sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is GSD6(T) ( =KACC 18129(T) =JCM 30133(T)). An emended description of the genus Aliiglaciecola is also proposed.