Polaribacter reichenbachii sp. nov.: a new marine bacterium associated with the green alga Ulva fenestrata.

A Gram-negative, aerobic, rod-shaped, motile by gliding and yellow-pigmented bacterium, designated strain 6Alg 8(T), was isolated from the common Pacific green alga Ulva fenestrata. The phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequence placed the novel strain within the genus Polaribacter, a member of the family Flavobacteriaceae, the phylum Bacteroidetes, with sequence similarities of 97.6 % to Polaribacter dokdonensis DSW-5(T) and 92.8-96.1 % to other recognized Polaribacter species. The prevalent fatty acids of strain 6Alg 8(T) were iso-C(15:0), iso-C(15:1), iso-C(15:0) 2-OH, C(15:0) and C(15:1)ω6. The polar lipid profile consisted of the major lipids phosphatidylethanolamine, two unknown aminolipids and one unknown lipid. The DNA G+C content of the type strain is 31.6 mol%. The new isolate and the type strains of recognized species of the genus Polaribacter were readily distinguished based on a number of phenotypic characteristics. A combination of the genotypic and phenotypic data showed that the algal isolate represents a novel species of the genus Polaribacter, for which the name Polaribacter reichenbachii sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is 6Alg 8(T) (= KCTC 23969(T) = KMM 6386(T) = LMG 26443(T)).