Proposal for transfer of Oceanibulbus indolifex Wagner-Döbler et al. 2004 to the genus Sulfitobacter as Sulfitobacter indolifex comb. nov.

A polyphasic taxonomic study was undertaken to clarify the exact position of type strain HEL-45T of OceanibulbusindolifexWagner-Döbler et al. 2004. A combination of physiological properties of HEL-45T were similar to those of its closest relatives, Sulfitobacterdelicatus KMM 3584T and Sulfitobacterdubius KMM 3554T. The results of 16S rRNA gene sequences analysis indicated that HEL-45T and the two relatives shared 99.6 % similarity and formed a coherent cluster in the phylogenetic tree. The close relationship between HEL-45T and the two relatives was underpinned by the results for chemotaxonomic characters, including the fatty acids, quinone and polar lipids. The digital DNA-DNA hybridization values and between HEL-45T and the two relatives were 25.9 and 31.6 %, respectively, which were well below the 70 % threshold value recommended for delineation of bacterial species. The comparative phenotypic and genotypic analyses supported the incorporation of Oceanibulbusindolifex into the genus Sulfitobacter as Sulfitobacterindolifex comb. nov.; the type strain is HEL-45T (=MCCC 1A11773T=DSM 14862T=NCIMB 13983T).