gen. nov., sp. nov., a mesophilic and halophilic bacterium isolated from tidal flat sediment.

Two novel bacteria, MJ-SS3 and MJ-SS4, were isolated from tidal flat sediment sampled in Gochang, Republic of Korea. The isolates were Gram-stain-negative, aerobic, non-motile, rod-shaped, yellow-coloured, oxidase-positive, and catalase-positive. Strains MJ-SS3 and MJ-SS4 grew at 20-37 °C (optimum, 30 °C), at pH 6-8 (optimum, pH 7.0) and in the presence of 0-7 % (w/v) NaCl (optimum, 2.0 % NaCl). Strains MJ-SS3 and MJ-SS4 showed 99.9 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity. Phylogenetic analysis based on genome and 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that strains MJ-SS3 and MJ-SS4 were affiliated with the family and most closely related to 1494 (95.3 %), NBU2984 (95.2 %), JLT21 (95.2 %), NH57N (95.1 %), and YCS-16 (95.1 %). The major respiratory quinone was menaquinone-6. The major identified polar lipids were phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylcholine, and amino lipids. The major cellular fatty acids of strain MJ-SS3 were iso-C G (24.6 %), iso-C (21.6 %), and iso-C 3-OH (15.8 %). The genome length of strain MJ-SS3 is 3.1 Mbp (DNA G+C content, 32.5 mol%) and it has 2822 coding and 59 tRNA genes. The average amino acid identity and average nucleotide identity values, as well as biochemical, phylogenetic, and physiological characteristics, strongly supported the genotypic and phenotypic differentiation of strains MJ-SS3 and MJ-SS4 from other members of the family . Hence, strains MJ-SS3 and MJ-SS4 are considered to represent a novel species of a new genus in the family , for which the gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is MJ-SS3 (=KCTC 102114=KEMB 20189=JCM 36595), with reference strain MJ-SS4 (=KCTC 102115=KEMB 20190).