Celeribacter persicus sp. nov., a polycyclic-aromatic-hydrocarbon-degrading bacterium isolated from mangrove soil.

A Gram-stain-negative, mesophilic bacterial strain, designated SBU1T, which degrades polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons was isolated from the sediments of the mangrove forests of Nayband Bay in the Iranian Persian Gulf during a bioremediation experiment. The 16S rRNA gene sequence of strain SBU1T exhibited highest similarities with Celeribacter indicus P73T (98.52%) and Celeribacter neptunius H 14T (97.05%). Phylogenetic analysis, based on 16S rRNA gene sequences, demonstrated that strain SBU1T fell within a cluster consisting of the type strains of species of the genus Celeribacter and formed a stable clade with C. indicus P73T in trees generated with three algorithms. The fatty acid profile of strain SBU1T consisted of the major fatty acids C18:1ω7c/ω6c and C18:1ω7c 11-methyl. The major compounds in the polar lipid profile were one phosphatidylglycerol and four unidentified phospholipids. The quinone system exclusively comprised ubiquinone (Q-10). The DNA G+C content was 60.4 mol%. A combination of phylogenetic analysis, DNA-DNA hybridization estimation, average nucleotide identity results and differential phenotypic and chemotaxonomic characteristics demonstrated that strain SBU1T could be distinguished from its close relatives. Therefore, strain SBU1T is considered to represent a novel species of the genus Celeribacter for which the name Celeribacter persicus sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is SBU1T (=MCCC 1A00672T=DSM 100434T).