Ovoidimarina sediminis gen. nov., sp. nov., a novel member of the Roseobacteraceae isolated from tidal flat sediment

A strictly aerobic, Gram-stain-negative, ovoid-shaped and non-motile bacterium, designated as strain MJ-SS7^T, was isolated from tidal mudflat sediment collected at a macro-tidal clam farm in Gochang, Republic of Korea. Strain MJ-SS7^T exhibited oxidase- and catalase-positive activities. Growth occurred at 20-37 °C (optimum: 30 °C), pH 6-8 (optimum: pH 7) and in the presence of 0-9% (w/v) NaCl (optimum: 3%). Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that MJ-SS7^T belonged to the family <i>Roseobacteraceae</i>. Its closest relatives, based on sequence similarity, were <i>Rhodophyticola porphyridii</i> KACC 18805^T (95.9%), <i>Kangsaoukella pontilimi</i> KCTC 72224^T (95.8%) and <i>Actibacterium pelagium</i> JN33^T (95.5%). The major fatty acids included summed feature 8 (C_18:1 <i> ω7c</i>/C_18:1 <i> ω6c</i>), C_16:0, C_16:0 2OH and C_18:0. The major polar lipids consisted of phosphatidylglycerol, five unidentified phospholipids, four unidentified aminolipids, two unidentified aminophospholipids and four unidentified lipids. The major respiratory quinone was ubiquinone-10. The genome size was 5.20 Mb, with a DNA G+C content of 63.4 mol%, encoding 5,031 protein-coding genes, 3 rRNA genes and 46 tRNA genes. Comparative genomic analyses confirmed its novelty, with average nucleotide identity (<73%) and average amino acid identity (<70%) values below the species delineation thresholds. Based on polyphasic taxonomic data, strain MJ-SS7^T represents a novel species of a new genus within the family <i>Roseobacteraceae</i>, for which the name <i>Ovoidimarina sediminis</i> gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is MJ-SS7^T (=KEMB 21436^T=KCTC 8329^T=JCM 36750^T).