Loktanella litorea sp. nov., isolated from seawater.

A Gram-negative, non-motile, rod-shaped bacterial strain, designated DPG-5(T), was isolated from seawater of the South Sea, Korea and subjected to a study using a polyphasic taxonomic approach. Strain DPG-5(T) grew optimally at pH 7.0-8.0, at 30 °C and in the presence of 2 % (w/v) NaCl. Neighbour-joining phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that strain DPG-5(T) fell within the clade comprising members of the genus Loktanella, and formed a cluster with the type strains of Loktanella rosea, Loktanella maricola, Loktanella koreensis and Loktanella tamlensis, with which it exhibited highest 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity values of 96.7, 96.5, 96.2 and 96.7 %, respectively. The 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity values between strain DPG-5(T) and the type strains of the other species of the genus Loktanella were in the range of 94.4-96.0 %. The DNA G+C content of strain DPG-5(T) was 57.6 mol%. Strain DPG-5(T) contained Q-10 as the predominant ubiquinone and C(18 : 1)ω7c and 11-methyl C(18 : 1)ω7c as the major fatty acids. The major polar lipids found in strain DPG-5(T) were phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylglycerol. Differential phenotypic properties, together with the phylogenetic distinctiveness, showed that strain DPG-5(T) is differentiated from other species of the genus Loktanella. On the basis of the data presented, strain DPG-5(T) is considered to represent a novel species of the genus Loktanella, for which the name Loktanella litorea sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is DPG-5(T) (= KCTC 23883(T) = CCUG 62113(T)).