Pontibacterium granulatum gen. nov., sp. nov., isolated from a tidal flat.

A Gram-stain-negative, strictly aerobic, moderately halophilic bacterium, designated A-1, was isolated from a tidal flat of the Taean coast in South Korea. Cells were motile rods with a single flagellum showing oxidase-negative and catalase-positive activities and contained poly-β-hydroxyalkanoic acid granules. Growth of strain A-1 was observed at 20-40 °C (optimum, 30 °C), pH 6.0-10.5 (optimum, pH 7.0) and in the presence of 1.0-6.0 % (w/v) NaCl (optimum, 2.0 %). Strain A-1 contained C16 : 0, summed feature 3 (comprising C16 : 1ω7c and/or C16 : 1ω6c) and summed feature 8 (comprising C18 : 1ω7c and/or C18 : 1ω6c) as the major fatty acids. The major polar lipids of strain A-1 were phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol and diphosphatidylglycerol. The isoprenoid quinones detected were ubiquinone-7 and ubiquinone-8. The G+C content of the genomic DNA was 51.5 mol%. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain A-1 formed a distinct phylogenetic lineage from other genera within the family Oceanospirillaceae. Strain A-1 shared low 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities with other taxa (≤94.9 %). On the basis of phenotypic, chemotaxonomic and molecular properties, it is clear that strain A-1 represents a novel genus and species of the family Oceanospirillaceae, for which the name Pontibacterium granulatum gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is A-1 (=KACC 18119=JCM 30136).