Aquisphaera insulae sp. nov., a new member in the family Isosphaeraceae, isolated from the floating island of Loktak lake and emended description of the genus Aquisphaera.

Strain JC669 was isolated from a floating island of Loktak lake, Manipur, India and shares the highest 16S rRNA gene sequence identity with Aquisphaera giovannonii OJF2. The novel strain is aerobic, Gram negative, light pink-coloured, non-motile, NaCl intolerant and spherical to oval-shaped. It grows in the form of single cells or aggregates and possibly forms structures which appear like fruiting bodies. Strain JC669 grows well up to pH 9.0.The isolate produces MK-6 as respiratory quinone, Cω9c, C and C as major fatty acids and phosphatidylcholine, an unidentified amino lipid, an unidentified choline lipid (UCL) and six additional unidentified lipids (UL1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) as polar lipids. Strain JC669 has a large genome size of 10.04 Mb and the genomic G + C content was 68.5 mol%. The genome contained all genes essential for lycopene related carotenoid biosynthesis. The polyphasic analysis of its phylogenetic position, morphological, physiological and genomic features supports the classification of strain JC669 as a novel species of the genus Aquisphaera, for which we propose the name Aquisphaera insulae sp. nov. Strain JC669 (= KCTC 72672 = NBRC 114306) is the type strain of the novel species.