Sandarakinotalea sediminis gen. nov., sp. nov., a novel member of the family Flavobacteriaceae.

Four Gram-negative, orange-coloured, aerobic, heterotrophic bacteria were isolated from sediment samples collected on the Pacific coast of Japan near the cities of Toyohashi and Katsuura. 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis indicated that these strains form a distinct lineage within the family Flavobacteriaceae. The four isolates shared 99.9-100 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity with each other and showed 88-90.9 % similarity with their neighbours in the family Flavobacteriaceae. The four strains also shared high DNA-DNA reassociation values of 67-99 % with each other. All the strains grew at 37 degrees C but not at 4 degrees C, and degraded gelatin, starch and DNA. The major fatty acids were i-C15:0, a-C15:0, i-C16:0 and i-C17:0 3-OH. However, two common fatty acids of members of the Flavobacteriaceae, i-C15:1 and a-C15:1, were absent in these strains. The DNA G+C contents of the four strains were in the range 35-37 mol%. On the basis of the polyphasic evidence, it was concluded that these strains should be classified as a novel genus and a novel species in the family Flavobacteriaceae, for which the name Sandarakinotalea sediminis gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain of Sandarakinotalea sediminis is CKA-5T (=NBRC 100970T=LMG 23247T).