Vagococcus jeotgali sp. nov., isolated from cutlassfish jeotgal, a traditional Korean fermented seafood

A novel, Gram-positive, facultatively anaerobic, and non-motile bacterial strain, designated B2T-5^T, was isolated from jeotgal, a traditional Korean fermented seafood. Colonies grown on gifu anaerobic medium agar plates were cream-coloured, irregular, and umbonate with curled margins. Optimal growth of strain B2T-5^T occurred at 20 °C, pH 8.0, and in the presence of 1% (w/v) NaCl. Strain B2T-5^T was negative for oxidase and catalase activity. Hippurate was not hydrolysed and acetoin was not produced. The major cellular fatty acids were C_{18 : 1} <i> ω</i>9<i>c</i> and C_{16 : 0}. The cell-wall peptidoglycan was of the A4<i>α</i> type containing l-Lys-d-Asp. The predominant respiratory quinone was menaquinone 7. The major polar lipids were diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, and phosphatidylcholine. According to the phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences, strain B2T-5^T was most closely related to <i>Vagococcus teuberi</i> DSM 21459^T, showing 98.2% sequence similarity. Genome sequencing of strain B2T-5^T revealed a genome size of 2.0 Mbp and a G+C content of 33.8 mol%. The average nucleotide identities of strain B2T-5^T with <i>Vagococcus teuberi</i> DSM 21459^T, <i>Vagococcus bubulae</i> SS1994^T, and <i>Vagococcus martis</i> D7T301^T were 75.0, 74.7, and 75.1%, respectively. Based on the phenotypic, chemotaxonomic, and genotypic data, strain B2T-5^T represents a novel species of the genus <i>Vagococcus</i>, for which the name <i>Vagococcus jeotgali</i> sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is B2T-5^T (=KCTC 21223^T=JCM 35937^T).