Puniceibacterium confluentis sp. nov., isolated from the junction between the ocean and a freshwater spring, and emended description of the genus Puniceibacterium.

A Gram-stain-negative, non-motile, aerobic and ovoid or rod-shaped bacterium, designated JSSK-17T, was isolated from the place where the ocean and a freshwater spring meet at Jeju island, South Korea. Strain JSSK-17T grew optimally at 30 °C, at pH 7.0-8.0 and in the presence of 1.0-2.0 % (w/v) NaCl. Phylogenetic trees, based on 16S rRNA gene sequences, showed that strain JSSK-17T clustered with the type strains of Puniceibacterium antarcticum and Puniceibacterium sediminis, exhibiting sequence similarities of 98.1-98.2 %. Strain JSSK-17T and the type strains of P. antarcticum and P. sediminis contained Q-10 as the predominant ubiquinone and C18 : 1ω7c as the major fatty acid. The predominant polar lipids detected in strain JSSK-17T and the type strains of P. antarcticum and P. sediminis were phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol, diphosphatidylglycerol, one unidentified aminolipid, one unidentified glycolipid and one unidentified phospholipid. The DNA G+C content of strain JSSK-17T was 64.4 mol% and its DNA-DNA relatedness values with the type strains of P. antarcticum and P. sediminis were 24 and 15 %, respectively. The differential phenotypic properties, together with the phylogenetic and genetic distinctiveness, revealed that strain JSSK-17T is separated from the two reference species of the genus Puniceibacteriumwith validly published names. On the basis of the data presented, strain JSSK-17T is considered to represent a novel species of the genus Puniceibacterium, for which the name Puniceibacterium confluentis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is JSSK-17T (=KCTC 52765T=NBRC 112766T).