Thalassotalea aquiviva sp. nov., and Thalassotalea maritima sp. nov., Isolated from Seawater of the Coast in South Korea

Two novel bacterial strains, 273M-4 T and Sam97 T , were isolated from seawater in the Yellow Sea, Muan-gun, South Korea, and identified as members of the genus Thalassotalea . Both strains were Gram-stain-negative, aerobic, rod-shaped, non-motile, non-flagellated, and oxidase- and catalase-positive. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strains 273M-4 T and Sam97 T were most closely related to Thalassotalea ponticola KCTC 42155 T , with sequence similarities of 97.5% and 98.3%, respectively. Optimal growth for strain 273M-4 T occurred at 25–30 °C, pH 7.0, and 2% NaCl, while strain Sam97 T grew optimally at 30 °C, pH 8.0, and 2% NaCl. Genome sizes of strains 273M-4 T and Sam97 T were 3.37 and 3.31 Mb, with DNA G + C contents of 41.0 mol% and 42.9 mol%, respectively. The orthologous average nucleotide identity (OrthoANI) and digital DNA-DNA hybridization (dDDH) values between the two strains were 71.6% and 24.4%, respectively, indicating that they are distinct species. Further genomic analyses of these two strains revealed OrthoANI values of