Alkalimicrobium pacificum gen. nov., sp. nov., a marine bacterium in the family Rhodobacteraceae.

A Gram-stain-negative, aerobic, non-motile, rod-shaped bacterium, designated strain F15T, was isolated from a deep-sea sediment of the western Pacific Ocean. The temperature, pH and NaCl ranges for growth were 4-50 °C, pH 6-11 and 0-10 % (w/v), respectively. Strain F15T showed the highest 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity to Sagittula stellata E-37T (96.4%), followed by Ponticoccus litoralis CL-GR66T (96.4%), Antarctobacter heliothermus EL-219T (96.3%) and Thalassococcus lentus YCS-24T (96.0%). Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequence data showed that strain F15T formed a lineage within the family Rhodobacteraceae of the class Alphaproteobacteria. The polar lipid profile of strain F15T comprised significant amounts of phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylcholine, one unidentified glycolipid and one unidentified phospholipid. The predominant cellular fatty acids were summed feature 8 (C18 : 1ω7c and/or C18 : 1ω6c, 40.2%), anteiso-C15 : 0 (30.4%) and anteiso-C17 : 0 (9.7%). The genomic DNA G+C content of strain F15T was 60.2 mol% and the major respiratory quinone was Q-10. On the basis of phenotypic, phylogenetic and chemotaxonomic data, strain F15T is considered to represent a novel species of a new genus within the family Rhodobacteraceae, for which the name Alkalimicrobium pacificum gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is F15T ( = LMG 28107T = JCM 19851T = CGMCC 1.12763T = MCCC 1A09948T).