A Gram-stain negative, facultative aerobic, rod-shaped and non-flagellated bacterium, designated strain OM2101 T , was isolated from sargasso samples of Rongcheng Kelp Breeding Base in the Yellow Sea, PR China. Strain OM2101 T grew at 10–30℃ (optimum at 25℃), pH 6.0-8.5 (optimum 6.5-7.0) with 0.5%-7% (w/v) NaCl (optimum with 0.5%). It hydrolyzed alginate and casein, but could not reduce nitrate to nitrite and hydrolyze gelatin and starch. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16 S rRNA gene sequence revealed that strain OM2101 T was affiliated with the genus Bernardetia , sharing the highest 16 S rRNA gene sequence similarity (97.83%) with the type strain of Bernardetia litoralis and forming a distinct clade together with this Bernardetia species. The main cellular fatty acids of strain OM2101 T were iso-C 15:0 , summed feature 9 (10-methy1-C 16:0 and/or iso-C 17:1 ω9c) and C 16:0 . Its polar lipids included phosphatidylethanolamine and four unidentified lipids. The dominant respiratory quinone was MK-7. The genomic DNA G + C content of strain OM2101 T was 31.46%. Based on the phylogenetic, chemotaxonomic and phenotypic data obtained in this study, strain OM2101 T is concluded to represent a novel species of the genus Bernardetia , for which the name Bernardetia aquimarina sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is OM2101 T (= MCCC 1K09367 T = KCTC 102328 T ).
Zhu et al. (Mon,) studied this question.