Pontibacillus litoralis sp. nov., a facultatively anaerobic bacterium isolated from a sea anemone, and emended description of the genus Pontibacillus.

A facultatively anaerobic, moderately halophilic, Gram-positive, endospore-forming, motile, catalase- and oxidase-positive, rod-shaped bacterium, strain JSM 072002(T), was isolated from a sea anemone (Anthopleura xanthogrammica) collected from the South China Sea. Strain JSM 072002(T) was able to grow with 0.5-15 % (w/v) NaCl and at pH 6.0-10.0 and 15-50 degrees C; optimum growth was observed with 2-5 % (w/v) NaCl and at pH 7.5 and 35 degrees C. meso-Diaminopimelic acid was present in the cell-wall peptidoglycan. The major cellular fatty acids were iso-C(15 : 0) and anteiso-C(15 : 0). The predominant respiratory quinone was menaquinone 7 and the genomic DNA G+C content was 41.3 mol%. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that strain JSM 072002(T) should be assigned to the genus Pontibacillus and revealed relatively low 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities (<97 %) with the type strains of the three recognized Pontibacillus species (Pontibacillus chungwhensis BH030062(T), 96.8 %; Pontibacillus marinus KCTC 3917(T), 96.7 %; Pontibacillus halophilus JSM 076056(T), 96.0 %). The combination of phylogenetic analysis, DNA-DNA relatedness values, phenotypic characteristics and chemotaxonomic data supports the view that strain JSM 072002(T) represents a novel species of the genus Pontibacillus, for which the name Pontibacillus litoralis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is JSM 072002(T) (=DSM 21186(T)=KCTC 13237(T)). An emended description of the genus Pontibacillus is also presented.