Sulfitobacter delicatus sp. nov. and Sulfitobacter dubius sp. nov., respectively from a starfish (Stellaster equestris) and sea grass (Zostera marina)

1 Pacific Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry of the Far-Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 690022 Vladivostok, Pr. 100 Let Vladivostoku 159, Russia 2 Industrial Research Institute, Swinburne University of Technology, PO Box 218, Hawthorn, Vic 3122, Australia 3 Laboratory of Microbiology, Graduate School of Fisheries Sciences, Faculty of Fisheries, Hokkaido University, 3-1-1 Minato-cho, Hakodate 041-8611, Japan 4 Institute of Marine Biology of the Far-Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 690041 Vladivostok, Russia 5 Muscle Research Unit, Institute for Biomedical Research, The University of Sydney, Sydney 2006, Australia 6 UMR 6543 CNRS and Université de Nice Sophia Antipolis, Centre de Biochimie, Parc Valrose, F-06108 Nice cedex 2, France Correspondence Elena P. Ivanova eivanova{at}swin.edu.au On the basis of data from phenotypic and genotypic characterization and analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequences, two novel species belonging to the genus Sulfitobacter are described. Strains KMM 3584 T , a pale-yellowish, non-motile strain isolated from a starfish ( Stellaster equestris ), and KMM 3554 T , which is motile by means of a single subpolar flagellum and was isolated from sea grass ( Zostera marina ), are marine, Gram-negative, aerobic, rod-shaped organisms. Both strains have the ability to degrade gelatin, but not casein, chitin, agar, DNA, Tween 80 or starch. Strain KMM 3584 T decomposed alginate and grew at NaCl concentrations of 1–8 % and temperatures of 12–37 °C, whereas strain KMM 3554 T grew in 1–12 % NaCl and at temperatures of 10–30 °C. The predominant fatty acid was 18 : 1 7, amounting to up to 80 % of the total fatty acids. The other characteristic feature was the presence of 18 : 2 isomers. The DNA G+C contents of KMM 3584 T and KMM 3554 T were respectively 60·0 and 63·7 mol%. The level of DNA similarity between the two strains was 33 %. DNA from KMM 3584 T and KMM 3554 T had hybridization values of 5–24 % and 10–41 %, respectively, with DNA from the type strains of Sulfitobacter pontiacus , Sulfitobacter brevis , Sulfitobacter mediterraneus and Staleya guttiformis . It is proposed that strains KMM 3584 T (=LMG 20554 T =ATCC BAA-321 T ) and KMM 3554 T (=LMG 20555 T =ATCC BAA-320 T ) represent two novel species, Sulfitobacter delicatus sp. nov. and Sulfitobacter dubius sp. nov., respectively. Abbreviations: ML, maximum-likelihood; MP, maximum-parsimony; NJ, neighbour-joining Published online ahead of print on 18 September