Pontibacter salisaro sp. nov., Isolated from a Clay Tablet Solar Saltern in Korea

A Gram-negative, aerobic, rod-shaped, and red-pigmented bacterial strain, HMC5104∨T, was isolated from a solar saltern, found in Jeungdo, Republic of Korea (34°59'47"N 126°10'02"E). The major fatty acids were summed feature 4 (comprising iso-C∧17:1 I and/or anteiso-C∧17:1 B; 37.2%), iso-C∧15:0 (20.4%), and iso-C∧17:0 3OH (15.3%). The DNA G+C content was 46.0 mol%. The major isoprenoid quinone was menaquinone-7 (MK-7). A phylogenetic tree based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain HMC5104∨T formed a lineage within the genus Pontibacter, and was closely related to Pontibacter korlensis (95.9%), P. roseus (94.9%), and P. actiniarum (94.3%). Similarities to all other Pontibacter, species were between 95.9-93.9%. On the basis of the evidence presented in this study, strain HMC5104∨T represents a novel species of the genus Pontibacter, for which the name Pontibacter salisaro sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is HMC5104∨T (=KCTC 22712∨T =NBRC 105731∨T).