Salegentibacter holothuriorum sp. nov., isolated from the edible holothurian Apostichopus japonicus

Strain KMM 3524T was isolated from the holothurian Apostichopus japonicus living in the Sea of Japan. The bacterial strain was pigmented, non-motile, Gram-negative, strictly aerobic and oxidase-, catalase- and beta-galactosidase-positive. From the results of 16S rDNA sequence analysis, strain KMM 3524T was found to be related closely to Salegentibacter salegens (98.1%). DNA-DNA homology between strains KMM 3524T and S. salegens DSM 5424T was 38%; this showed clearly that the holothurian isolate KMM 3524T belongs to a novel species of the genus Salegentibacter for which the name Salegentibacter holothuriorum sp. nov. is proposed, with KMM 3524T (=NBRC 100249T=LMG 21968T) as the type strain.