Two novel species of marine phototrophic Gammaproteobacteria: Thiorhodococcus bheemlicus sp. nov. and Thiorhodococcus kakinadensis sp. nov

1 Bacterial Discovery Laboratory, Centre for Environment, Institute of Science and Technology, J. N. T. University, Kukatpally, Hyderabad 500 085, India 2 Department of Plant Sciences, School of Life Sciences, University of Hyderabad, PO Central University, Hyderabad 500 046, India 3 Leibniz-Institut für Meereswissenschaften IFM-GEOMAR, Marine Mikrobiologie, Düsternbrooker Weg 20, 24105 Kiel, Germany Correspondence Ch. Sasikala r449{at}sify.com Two coccoid phototrophic purple sulfur bacteria were isolated from marine habitats (marine aquaculture pond near Bheemli, Visakhapatnam and marine tidal waters from a fishing harbour, Kakinada) in a medium that contained 3 % NaCl (w/v). Strains JA132 T and JA130 T are Gram-negative, motile cocci with a single flagellum. Both have an obligate requirement for NaCl. Intracellular photosynthetic membranes are of the vesicular type. Bacteriochlorophyll a and most probably carotenoids of the spirilloxanthin series were present as photosynthetic pigments. Both strains were able to grow photolithoautotrophically and photolithoheterotrophically. Chemotrophic and fermentative growth could not be demonstrated. There is no vitamin requirement for strain JA132 T , while strain JA130 T requires niacin, biotin and pantothenate as growth factors. Phylogenetic analysis on the basis of 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that both strains cluster with species of the genus Thiorhodococcus belonging to the Gammaproteobacteria . The DNA G+C contents of strains JA132 T and JA130 T were 65.5 and 57.5 mol%, respectively. Based on the 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, morphological and physiological characteristics, strains JA132 T and JA130 T are significantly different from each other and from other species of the genus Thiorhodococcus and are recognized as two novel species, for which the names Thiorhodococcus bheemlicus sp. nov. and Thiorhodococcus kakinadensis sp. nov. are proposed. The type strains of T. bheemlicus sp. nov. and T. kakinadensis sp. nov. are JA132 T (=MTCC 8120 T =ATCC BAA-1362 T =JCM 14149 T =DSM 18805 T ) and JA130 T (=ATCC BAA-1353 T =DSM 18858 T =JCM 14150 T ), respectively. Abbreviations: APB, anoxygenic phototrophic bacteria The GenBank/EMBL/DDBJ accession numbers for the 16S rRNA gene sequences of strains JA132 T and JA130 T are AM282559 and AM282561 , respectively. Supplementary figures are available with the online version of this paper.