Endozoicomonas acroporae sp. nov., isolated from Acropora coral.

Strain Acr-14, isolated from Acropora coral, was characterized by using a polyphasic taxonomy approach. Cells of strain Acr-14 were Gram-stain-negative, aerobic, non-motile, poly-β-hydroxybutyrate-accumulating, rod-shaped and formed creamy white colonies. Optimal growth occurred at 30 °C, pH 7 and in the presence of 2 % NaCl. Phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain Acr-14 belonged to the genus Endozoicomonas and was most closely related to Endozoicomonas atrinae WP70 with sequence similarity of 96.7 %. Strain Acr-14 contained summed feature 3 (C16 : 1ω7c and/or C16 : 1ω6c), summed feature 8 (C18 : 1ω7c and/or C18 : 1ω6c) and C16 : 0 as the predominant fatty acids. The predominant isoprenoid quinone was Q-9. The major polar lipids were phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol and diphosphatidylglycerol. The genomic DNA G+C content of strain Acr-14 was 49.1 mol%. Differential phenotypic properties, together with the phylogenetic inference, demonstrated that strain Acr-14 should be classified as a novel species of the genus Endozoicomonas, for which the name Endozoicomonas acroporae sp. nov. is presented. The type strain is Acr-14 (=BCRC 80922=LMG 29482=KCTC 42901).