Lutibacter agarilyticus sp. nov., a marine bacterium isolated from shallow coastal seawater.

A Gram-staining-negative, non-spore-forming, non-gliding and rod-shaped bacterial strain KYW566(T), was isolated from seawater of the Suncheon Bay, Korea, and its taxonomic position was investigated by using a polyphasic study. The cells contained MK-6 as the only respiratory quinone and contained iso-C15 : 0 (13.8 %), iso-C16 : 0 3-OH (13.1 %), anteiso-C15 : 0 (9.3 %), iso-C15 : 0 3-OH (8.7 %), iso-C15 : 1 G (6.3 %) and summed feature 3 (C16 : 1ω7c and/or C16 : 1ω6c) (6.0 %) as the major fatty acids. The DNA G+C content of strain KYW566(T) was 41.6 ± 0.8 mol% (mean ± sd of three determinations). A phylogenetic tree based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain KYW566(T) forms an evolutionary lineage within the radiation enclosing the members of the genus Lutibacter with Lutibacter flavus IMCC1507(T) as its nearest neighbour (96.7 % sequence similarity). A number of phenotypic characteristics distinguished strain KYW566(T) from described members of the genus Lutibacter. On the basis of the evidences presented in this study, strain KYW566(T) represents a novel species, for which the name Lutibacter agarilyticus sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is KYW566(T) ( = KCTC 23842(T) = JCM 18281(T)).