Litoribaculum gwangyangense gen. nov., sp. nov., isolated from a sea-tidal flat sediment.

A Gram-stain-negative, strictly aerobic bacterium, designated strain GY12(T), was isolated from a tidal flat of South Korea. Cells were moderately halotolerant, catalase- and oxidase-positive rods with gliding motility, and were devoid of flagella. Growth of strain GY12(T) was observed at 15-40 °C (optimum 25-30 °C), pH 6.0-8.5 (optimum pH 7.0-7.5) and with 1-5 % (w/v) NaCl (optimum 1-2 %). The major cellular fatty acids were iso-C15 : 1 G, iso-C15 : 0 and iso-C15 : 0 3-OH. The polar lipids consisted almost entirely of phosphatidylethanolamine, two unidentified aminolipids and two unidentified lipids. The G+C content of the genomic DNA was 34.8 mol% and the only respiratory quinone detected was menaquinone-6 (MK-6). Strain GY12(T) was most closely related to the genera Gaetbulibacter, Flaviramulus, Mariniflexile and Tamlana with 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities of 94-97 %, but phylogenetic inferences based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that the strain formed phyletic lineages distinct from these genera within the family Flavobacteriaceae. On the basis of phenotypic and molecular features, strain GY12(T) represents a novel species of a new genus in the family Flavobacteriaceae, for which the name Litoribaculum gwangyangense gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain of the type species is GY12(T) ( = KACC 16441(T) = JCM 18325(T)).