Tamlana agarivorans sp. nov., isolated from seawater off Jeju Island in Korea.

A Gram-negative, non-motile, rod-shaped, agarolytic bacterial strain, designated JW-26T, was isolated from seawater off Jeju Island in Korea, and was subjected to a polyphasic taxonomic investigation. Strain JW-26T grew optimally at pH 7.0-8.0, at 30 degrees C and in the presence of approximately 2 % (w/v) NaCl. Phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that strain JW-26T joins Tamlana crocina HST1-43T, with which it exhibited a 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity value of 95.5 %. Strain JW-26T contained MK-6 as the predominant menaquinone and iso-C15:0, C15:0 and iso-C15:1 as the major fatty acids. The DNA G+C content was 36.8 mol%. There were no distinct phenotypic and, particularly, chemotaxonomic properties to differentiate strain JW-26T from the genus Tamlana. DNA-DNA relatedness data and differential phenotypic properties, together with the phylogenetic distinctiveness, demonstrated that strain JW-26T is distinguishable from the type strain of T. crocina. On the basis of phenotypic, phylogenetic and genetic data, therefore, strain JW-26T represents a novel species within the genus Tamlana, for which the name Tamlana agarivorans sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is JW-26T (=KCTC 22176T =CCUG 55327T).