Cerasicoccus arenae gen. nov., sp. nov., a carotenoid-producing marine representative of the family Puniceicoccaceae within the phylum 'Verrucomicrobia', isolated from marine sand

1 Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences, The University of Tokyo, 1-1-1 Yayoi, Bunkyo-Ku, Tokyo 113-0032, Japan 2 Marine Biotechnology Institute Co. Ltd, 3-75-1, Heita, Kamaishi, Iwate 026-0001, Japan Correspondence Jaewoo Yoon aa57058{at}mail.ecc.u-tokyo.ac.jp A polyphasic taxonomic study was performed on strain YM26-026 T , which was isolated from acid-treated sediment in Kamaishi, Japan. The bacterial cells were pale-pink-pigmented, Gram-negative, obligately aerobic, non-spore-forming, spherical and non-motile. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that the novel isolate was a member of the phylum ‘ Verrucomicrobia ’ and shared approximately 84–87 % sequence similarity with strains of the class Opitutae that have been cultivated to date. Strain YM26-026 T produced pale-pink pigments of carotenoid. -Lactam antibiotic susceptibility tests and amino acid analysis of cell-wall hydrolysates indicated that the novel isolate did not contain muramic acid or diaminopimelic acid in the cell wall, suggesting that the strain lacks peptidoglycan. The G+C content of the DNA of strain YM26-026 T was 54.0 mol%. Menaquinone-7 was the major quinone and C 14 : 0 and C 18 : 1 9 c were the major fatty acids. On the basis of polyphasic taxonomic studies, it was concluded that strain YM26-026 T represents a new genus of the family Puniceicoccaceae within the phylum ‘ Verrucomicrobia ’, for which the name Cerasicoccus arenae gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is YM26-026 T (=MBIC08280 T =KCTC 12870 T ). Abbreviations: TEM, transmission electron microscopy The GenBank/EMBL/DDBJ accession number for the 16S rRNA gene sequence of strain YM26-026 T is AB292183 .