Kistimonas scapharcae sp. nov., isolated from a dead ark clam (Scapharca broughtonii), and emended description of the genus Kistimonas.

A Gram-negative, motile, facultatively anaerobic rod, designated A36(T), was isolated from a dead ark clam found on the south coast of Korea. The isolate was catalase- and oxidase-negative. 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis indicated that strain A36(T) was most closely related to Kistimonas asteriae KMD 001(T), with which it shared 98.2% 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity. Strain A36(T) grew optimally at 30-37 °C, with 1% (w/v) NaCl and at pH 8.0. The major respiratory quinone was ubiquinone-9 (Q-9). The major polar lipids were phosphatidylserine, phosphoethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol and diphosphatidylglycerol. The major fatty acids were summed feature 3 (comprising C(16:1)ω7c and/or iso-C(15) 2-OH) and C(16:0). The genomic DNA G+C content was 47.3 mol%. DNA-DNA relatedness between the isolate and K. asteriae JCM 15607(T) was <25 ± 3%. Strain A36(T) represents a novel species of the genus Kistimonas, for which the name Kistimonas scapharcae sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is A36(T) ( = KACC 16204(T)  = JCM 17805(T)). An emended description of the genus Kistimonas is also provided.