Pelagibaculum spongiae gen. nov., sp. nov., isolated from a marine sponge in South-West Iceland.

A Gram-stain-negative, motile, mesophilic, aerobic, rod-shaped bacterium, designated Hp12, was isolated from a marine sponge in the intertidal zone off the coast of Seltjarnarnes (64° 16' N 22° 00' W), Iceland. Strain Hp12 grew optimally at 20-22 °C, at pH 7-8 and in the presence of 1-2 % (w/v) NaCl. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences placed strain Hp12 in the class Gammaproteobacteria, related to members of the genus Alcanivorax in the order Oceanospirillales with 90.3-88.5 % sequence similarity. The strain had a draft genome size of 4.99 Mbp with a DNA G+C content of 43.0 mol%. Cellular fatty acids were dominated by C16 : 1 ω7c, C18 : 1 ω7c and C16 : 0. The predominant polar lipids were phosphatidylglycerol and phosphatidylethanolamine. The major respiratory lipoquinones were ubiquinone Q8 and menaquinone MK8. From the taxonomic information and phenotypic properties obtained in this study, it is proposed that strain Hp12 be placed into a novel genus and species named Pelagibaculum spongiae gen. nov., sp. nov. The type strain of Pelagibaculum spongiae is Hp12 (=DSM 104963=CECT 9367).