Gramella oceani sp. nov., a zeaxanthin-producing bacterium of the family Flavobacteriaceae isolated from marine sediment.

A Gram-staining-negative, yellow-pigmented, strictly aerobic, zeaxanthin-producing, rod-shaped, non-endospore-forming, appendaged bacterial strain that exhibits gliding motility, designated CC-AMSZ-T(T), was isolated from marine sediment off coastal Kending, Taiwan. Strain CC-AMSZ-T(T) shared 94.9% and 96.7-94.1% 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities with Gramella echinicola KMM 6050(T) and other species of the genus Gramella, respectively, and formed a distinct phyletic lineage in phylogenetic trees. The major (≥5% of the total) fatty acids were C(16 : 0), iso-C(15 : 0), anteiso-C(15 : 0), C(16 : 1)ω6c and/or C(16 : 1)ω7c and iso-C(17 : 1)ω9c and/or C(16 : 0) 10-methyl. Phosphatidylethanolamine, six unidentified lipids and three unidentified aminolipids were the polar lipid components. The DNA G+C content was 38.6 mol%. The predominant respiratory quinone was menaquinone-6 (MK-6). Based on the phylogenetic distinctiveness and distinguishing phenotypic characteristics, strain CC-AMSZ-T(T) represents a novel species of the genus Gramella, for which the name Gramella oceani sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is CC-AMSZ-T(T) ( = JCM 18809(T) = BCRC 80547(T)).