Hoeflea algicola sp. nov. and Hoeflea ulvae sp. nov., isolated from phycosphere of marine algae

Two Gram- negative, moderately halophilic, and motile rod bacteria, strains G2- 23T and J2- 29T, showing catalase- and oxidasepositive activities were isolated from species of the marine algae Chondrus and Ulva, respectively. Both strains optimally grew at 30 degrees C, pH 7.0 and 2% (w/v) NaCl. Both strains contained ubiquinone- 10 as the sole isoprenoid quinone. Strain G2- 23T contained summed feature 8 (C18:1 omega 7c and/or C18: 1 omega 6c), C16:0 and summed feature 3 (iso- C15: 0 2- OH and/or C16: 1 omega 7c/omega 6c) as major cellular fatty acids, and phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), phosphatidyl- N- monomethylethanolamine (PME), phosphatidylglycerol (PG), diphosphatidylglycerol and an unidentified phospholipid (PL) as major polar lipids. Strain J2- 29T contained summed feature 8, C18: 1 omega 7c 11- methyl and C16:0 as major cellular fatty acids and PE, PME, PG and PL as major polar lipids. The genomic DNA G+C contents of strains G2- 23T and J2- 29T were 59.5 and 62.2 mol%, respectively. Both strains shared 97.9 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity, 79.8 % average nucleotide identity (ANI) and 22.8 % digital DNA-DNA hybridization (dDDH) values, indicating that they represent different species. Phylogenetic and phylogenomic analyses by 16S rRNA gene and genome sequences, respectively, revealed that strains G2- 23T and J2- 29T formed different phylogenic lineages within the genus Hoeflea. ANI and dDDH values between strains G2- 23T and J2- 29T and other Hoeflea type strains were less than 79.0 and 22.1% and 80.5 and 23.3 %, respectively, suggesting that they represent novel species of the genus Hoeflea. In summary, based on their phenotypic, chemotaxonomic and molecular properties, strains G2- 23T and J2- 29T represent two different novel species of the genus Hoeflea, for which the names Hoeflea algicola sp. nov. (G2- 23T=KACC 22714T=JCM 35548T) and Hoeflea ulvae sp. nov. (J229T=KACC 22715T=JCM 35549T), respectively, are proposed.