Salegentibacter agarivorans sp. nov., a novel marine bacterium of the family Flavobacteriaceae isolated from the sponge Artemisina sp.

A sponge-associated strain, KMM 7019T, was investigated in a polyphasic taxonomic study. The bacterium was strictly aerobic, heterotrophic, Gram-negative, yellow-pigmented, motile by gliding and oxidase-, catalase-, beta-galactosidase- and alkaline phosphatase-positive. A phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that strain KMM 7019T is closely related to members of the genus Salegentibacter, namely Salegentibacter holothuriorum, Salegentibacter mishustinae and Salegentibacter salegens (97.7-98 % sequence similarities). The DNA-DNA relatedness between the strain studied and Salegentibacter species ranged from 27 to 31 %, clearly demonstrating that KMM 7019T belongs to a novel species of the genus Salegentibacter, for which the name Salegentibacter agarivorans sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is KMM 7019T (=KCTC 12560T = LMG 23205T).