Microbulbifer donghaiensis sp. nov., isolated from marine sediment of the East China Sea.

A Gram-negative, aerobic, neutrophilic, rod-shaped bacterium, designated strain CN85(T), was isolated from a sediment sample collected from the East China Sea and was subjected to a polyphasic taxonomic characterization. This isolate grew in the presence of 0.5-6.0 % (w/v) NaCl and at 20-40 degrees C; optimum growth was observed with 3 % (w/v) NaCl and at 35 degrees C. Chemotaxonomic analysis showed that Q-8 was the predominant respiratory quinone and that iso-C(15 : 0), iso-C(11 : 0) 3-OH, iso-C(17 : 1)omega9c, iso-C(17 : 0), iso-C(11 : 0) and C(16 : 0) were the major fatty acids. The G+C content of the genomic DNA was 57.8 mol%. On the basis of 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, the isolate was affiliated to the genus Microbulbifer. Strain CN85(T) exhibited most phylogenetic affinity with respect to the type strain of Microbulbifer maritimus (97.0 % sequence similarity) and showed less than 97 % sequence similarity with respect to other described Microbulbifer species with known 16S rRNA gene sequences. The DNA-DNA hybridization between strain CN85(T) and M. maritimus JCM 12187(T) was 44 %. On the basis of phenotypic and genotypic data, strain CN85(T) represents a novel species of the genus Microbulbifer, for which the name Microbulbifer donghaiensis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is CN85(T) (=CGMCC 1.7063(T) =JCM 15145(T)).