sp. nov., sp. nov. and sp. nov., three marine bacteria isolated from seawater.

Three Gram-stain-negative, non-motile, rod-shaped strains, designated 72, NH166 and 40DY170, were isolated from seawater samples of the West Pacific Ocean, South China Sea and West Pacific Ocean, respectively. The 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity results revealed that strains 72and NH166 were most closely related to Ar-22, JCM 17757, KCTC 23501, KCTC 22173 and MT-229 with 97.2-98.0% sequence similarity. 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis also indicated that strain 40DY170 was most closely related to DSM 13258, JCM 11811, KCTC 22173 and 501str8 with 97.6-98.1% sequence similarity. The 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity values among strains 72, NH166 and 40DY170 were 96.5-99.2%. Phylogenetic analyses indicated that three new isolates represented three novel species by forming two distinctive lineages within the genus . The DNA G+C contents of strain 72, NH166 and 40DY170 were 43.4, 43.4 and 42.4 mol%, respectively. The average nucleotide identity and DNA-DNA hybridization values between strains 72, NH166, 40DY170 and the reference strains were 76.5-93.5% and 19.2-53.5%, respectively. The sole respiratory quinone in all strains was menaquinone-6. Their major fatty acids were iso-C 3-OH, iso-C and iso-C G. The major polar lipids of strains 72 and NH166 were phosphatidylethanolamine, one unidentified aminolipid and two unidentified lipids. The major polar lipids of strain 40DY170 were phosphatidylglycerol, one unidentified phospholipid, one unidentified aminolipid and two unidentified lipids. On the basis of their distinct taxonomic characteristics, the three isolates represent three novel species of the genus , for which the names sp. nov. (type strain 72=KCTC 62229=MCCC 1K03350), sp. nov. (NH166=KCTC 62228=MCCC 1K03449) and sp. nov. (40DY170=KCTC 72200=MCCC 1K03569) are proposed.