Lewinella litorea sp. nov., isolated from marine sand

A Gram-stain-negative, aerobic, non-motile and ovoid- or rod-shaped bacterial strain, designated HSMS-39(T), was isolated from marine sand sampled at Hongsung, Republic of Korea. Strain HSMS-39(T) grew optimally at 30 degrees C and in the presence of 1.0-2.0% (w/v) NaCl. Phylogenetic trees based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain HSMS-39(T) fell within the clade comprising the type strains of Lewinella species, clustering with the type strain of Lewinella marina showing 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity of 99.1%. It exhibited 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities of less than 95.5% to the type strains of the other Lewinella species. Strain HSMS-39(T) contained MK-7 as the predominant menaquinone and iso-C-17:1 omega 9c, iso-C-15:0 and summed feature 3 (C-16:1 omega 7c and/or C-16:1 omega 6c) as the major fatty acids. The major polar lipids of strain HSMS-39(T) were phosphatidylethanolamine and one unidentified phospholipid. The DNA G+C content of strain HSMS-39(T) was 60.0mol%. The mean DNA-DNA relatedness value between strain HSMS-39(T) and the type strain of L. marina was 15%. The average nucleotide identity value between strain HSMS-39(T) and the type strain of L. marina was 81.87%. The phylogenetic and genetic data and differential phenotypic properties indicated that strain HSMS-39(T) is separated from other recognized species of the genus Lewinella. On the basis of the polyphasic data, strain HSMS-39(T) is considered to represent a novel species of the genus Lewinella, for which the name Lewinella litorea sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is HSMS-39T (=KACC 19866(T)=NBRC 113585(T)).