Oceanicola marinus sp. nov., a marine alphaproteobacterium isolated from seawater collected off Taiwan.

A short-rod-shaped, Gram-negative, non-motile bacterial strain, designated AZO-C(T), was isolated from a sample of seawater collected from the Eluanbi coast of Pingtung County in southern Taiwan and was characterized by using a polyphasic approach. Phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that the strain formed a monophyletic branch at the periphery of the evolutionary radiation occupied by the genus Oceanicola in the order Rhodobacterales of the Alphaproteobacteria. The closest neighbours were Oceanicola batsensis HTCC2597(T) (95.6 % similarity), Oceanicola nanhaiensis SS011B1-20(T) (94.5 %) and Oceanicola granulosus HTCC2516(T) (94.0 %). The predominant fatty acid was 18 : 1 omega 7c (49.1 %), and significant amounts of 19 : 0 cyclo (24.6 %) and 16 : 0 (14.7 %) were present. The DNA-DNA relatedness of the strain with respect to recognized species of the genus Oceanicola was less than 70 %. The isolate was also distinguishable from members of the genus Oceanicola on the basis of phenotypic and biochemical characteristics. It is evident from the genotypic, chemotaxonomic and phenotypic data, therefore, that strain AZO-C(T) represents a novel species of the genus Oceanicola, for which the name Oceanicola marinus sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is AZO-C(T) (=LMG 23705(T)=BCRC 17591(T)).