Kocuria sediminis sp. nov., isolated from a marine sediment sample.

A Gram-positive, pinkish-orange pigmented, coccoid strain, FCS-11(T) was isolated from a marine sediment sample taken from Kochi fort area, Kerala, India and subjected to polyphasic taxonomic study. The 16S rRNA gene sequence of the strain was determined and the results of 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis showed that the strain FCS-11(T) should be assigned to the genus Kocuria. The chemotaxonomic data supported this taxonomic placement i.e. menaquinones MK-7(H(2)), MK-8(H(2)) and MK-9(H(2)); major fatty acids anteiso C15:0 and iso-C15:0 and phosphatidylglycerol (PG) and diphosphatidylglycerol (DPG) as major polar lipids. Further phylogenetic analysis of the 16S rRNA gene sequence confirmed that the strain FCS-11(T) belonged to the genus Kocuria and is closely related to Kocuria turfanensis MTCC 10790(T) (99.4%) followed by Kocuria polaris MTCC 3702(T) (98.2%), Kocuria rosea MTCC 2522(T) (98.2%), Kocuria flava MTCC 10971(T) (98.2%), Kocuria aegyptia MTCC 10791(T) (98.0%), Kocuria himachalensis MTCC 7020(T) (97.5%) and Kocuria atrinae MTCC 10972(T) (97.1%). However, the DNA-DNA hybridisation values obtained between strain FCS-11(T) and other related strains were well below the threshold that is required for the proposal of a novel species. The G+C content of the genomic DNA was 60.7 mol%. The phenotypic and genotypic data showed that the strain FCS-11(T) merits the recognition as a representative of a novel species of the genus Kocuria. It is proposed that the isolate should be classified in the genus Kocuria as a novel species, Kocuria sediminis sp. nov. The type strain is FCS-11(T) (= MTCC 10969(T) = JCM 17929(T)).