Gilvirhabdus luticola gen. nov., sp. nov., a mesophilic and halophilic bacterium isolated from tidal flat sediment

Two novel bacteria, MJ-SS3^T and MJ-SS4, were isolated from tidal flat sediment sampled in Gochang, Republic of Korea. The isolates were Gram-stain-negative, aerobic, non-motile, rod-shaped, yellow-coloured, oxidase-positive, and catalase-positive. Strains MJ-SS3^T and MJ-SS4 grew at 20-37 °C (optimum, 30 °C), at pH 6-8 (optimum, pH 7.0) and in the presence of 0-7 % (w/v) NaCl (optimum, 2.0 % NaCl). Strains MJ-SS3^T and MJ-SS4 showed 99.9 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity. Phylogenetic analysis based on genome and 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that strains MJ-SS3^T and MJ-SS4 were affiliated with the family <i>Flavobacteriaceae</i> and most closely related to <i>Formosa maritima</i> 1494^T (95.3 %), <i>Hanstruepera flava</i> NBU2984^T (95.2 %), <i>Yeosuana marina</i> JLT21^T (95.2 %), <i>Meridianimaribacter flavus</i> NH57N^T (95.1 %), and <i>Geojedonia litorea</i> YCS-16^T (95.1 %). The major respiratory quinone was menaquinone-6. The major identified polar lipids were phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylcholine, and amino lipids. The major cellular fatty acids of strain MJ-SS3^T were iso-C_{15 : 1} G (24.6 %), iso-C_{15 : 0} (21.6 %), and iso-C_{17 : 0} 3-OH (15.8 %). The genome length of strain MJ-SS3^T is 3.1 Mbp (DNA G+C content, 32.5 mol%) and it has 2822 coding and 59 tRNA genes. The average amino acid identity and average nucleotide identity values, as well as biochemical, phylogenetic, and physiological characteristics, strongly supported the genotypic and phenotypic differentiation of strains MJ-SS3^T and MJ-SS4 from other members of the family <i>Flavobacteriaceae</i>. Hence, strains MJ-SS3^T and MJ-SS4 are considered to represent a novel species of a new genus in the family <i>Flavobacteriaceae</i>, for which the <i>Gilvirhabdus luticola</i> gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is MJ-SS3^T (=KCTC 102114^T=KEMB 20189^T=JCM 36595^T), with reference strain MJ-SS4 (=KCTC 102115=KEMB 20190).