gen. nov., sp. nov., a novel alginate-degrading bacterium isolated from the surface of intertidal algal turf.

A novel rod-shaped, Gram-stain-negative, strictly aerobic and alginate-degrading marine bacterium, designated CCB-QB4, was isolated from a surface of algal turf collected from a coastal area of Penang, Malaysia. The cells showed motility by a lateral flagellum. The rod-shaped cells formed long chains end-to-end. Phylogenetic analysis based on the 16S rRNA gene sequence of strain CCB-QB4 showed 94.07, 92.69, 91.52 and 90.90 % sequence similarity to RQJ05, Q1, YM01 and D2, respectively. Strain CCB-QB4 formed a cluster with RQJ05. Strain CCB-QB4 was catalase-negative, oxidase-positive, and degraded agar, alginate, and starch. Cell growth was observed at 15-40 °C, at pH 7.0-10.0 and in the presence of 1-6 % (w/v) NaCl and glucose. The major fatty acids were summed feature 3 (C ω7/iso-C 2-OH), C and C ω7. The polar lipids were phosphatidylethanolamine, two unidentified aminolipids, two unidentified glycolipids, an unidentified phospholipid and unidentified lipid. The major respiratory quinone was ubiquinone-8. The genomic DNA G+C content was 46.7 mol%. Based on the phenotypic, chemotaxonomic and phylogenetic data, strain CCB-BQ4 represents a novel species in a new genus, for which the name gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is CCB-QB4 (=JCM 33513=CCB-MBL 5008).