sp. nov., a poly--hydroxybutyrate-producing, halotolerant bacterium isolated from coral sediment in the Dapeng peninsula (Guangdong, China).

A Gram-stain-negative, strictly aerobic, motile, flagellated, rod-shaped, halotolerant, and poly--hydroxyalkanoate-producing bacterium, designated DP4N28-3, was isolated from offshore sediment surrounding hard coral in the Dapeng peninsula (Guangdong, PR China). Growth occurred at 15-35 °C (optimal at 30 °C), pH 6.0-9.5 (optimal at 6.0-7.0), and 0.0-30.0 % NaCl concentration (w/v, optimal at 0.0-2.0 %), showing halotolerance. Phylogeny based on 16S rRNA gene sequences, five housekeeping genes, and genome sequences identified DSM 23348 (98.1 %, 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity) as the most related species to strain DP4N28-3. Average nucleotide identity, digital DNA-DNA hybridization, and average amino acid identity values between strain DP4N28-3 and DSM 23348 were all below the threshold of species demarcation. Major phenotypic differences were the flagella type and the limited sources of single carbon utilization by strain DP4N28-3, which only included acetic acid, acetoacetic acid, d-glucuronic acid, and glucuronamide. Strain DP4N28-3 harboured the class I poly--hydroxyalkanoate synthase gene () and produced poly--hydroxybutyrate. The fatty acids were summed feature 8 (C 6 and/or C 7, 49.4 %) and C (13.4 %). The major cellular polar lipids consisted of phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylmonomethylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol, and sulfoquinovosyl diacylglycerol. The respiratory quinone was Q-10. The results of the phylogenetic, genomic, phenotypic, and chemotaxonomic analysis indicated that the isolated strain represents the type strain of a novel species. Based on these results, strain DP4N28-3 (=MCCC 1K05639=KCTC 82803) is proposed as the type strain of the novel species sp. nov.