Oceanicola pacificus sp. nov., isolated from a deep-sea pyrene-degrading consortium.

A taxonomic study was carried out on a Gram-negative, rod-shaped, non-motile, halophilic bacterium, designated strain W11-2B(T), which was isolated from a pyrene-degrading consortium that was enriched from sediment from the Pacific Ocean. Growth was observed at salinities of 0.5-10 % and at temperatures of 10-41 degrees C. Strain W11-2B(T) was unable to degrade Tween 80 or gelatin. 16S rRNA gene sequence comparisons showed that strain W11-2B(T) was related most closely to Oceanicola nanhaiensis SS011B1-20(T) (95.8 % similarity) and Oceanicola batsensis HTCC2597(T) (95.7 %); levels of 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity between strain W11-2B(T) and the type strains of other species tested were below 95.2 %. The dominant fatty acids of strain W11-2B(T) were C(18 : 1)omega7c (32.1 % of the total), C(19 : 0) cyclo (20.9 %), C(18 : 1)omega7c 11-methyl (19.5 %), C(18 : 0) (7.3 %), C(17 : 0) (6.6 %) and C(16 : 0) (3.8 %). The G+C content of the chromosomal DNA was 64.6 mol%. The above data were in good agreement with those of members of the genus Oceanicola. Based on morphology, physiology, fatty acid composition and 16S rRNA gene sequence data, strain W11-2B(T) is considered to represent a novel species of the genus Oceanicola, for which the name Oceanicola pacificus sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is W11-2B(T) (=CCTCC AB 208224(T)=LMG 24619(T)=MCCC 1A01034(T)).