Endozoicomonas elysicola gen. nov., sp. nov., a γ-proteobacterium isolated from the sea slug Elysia ornata

A Gram-negative, strictly aerobic, rod-formed bacterium, strain MKT110T, was isolated from a mollusk, the sea slug Elysia ornata collected in seawater off the coast of Izu-Miyake Island, Japan at a depth of 15 m. Comparative 16S rRNA gene sequences analysis indicated that the isolate MKT110T constituted a novel lineage in γ-proteobacteria related to the genera Zooshikella, Oceanospirillum, Microbulbifer, Marinobacter, Saccharospirillum and Pseudomonas. The strain MKT110T was closely related to the clones from marine sponge Halichondria okadai (AB054136, AB054161) and the coral Pocillopora damicornis (AY700600, AY700601). The phylogenetic tree based on the 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that MKT110T and four clones formed a sub-lineage related to the genus Zooshikella, with a bootstrap value of 100%. MKT110T required salt for its growth and was mesophilic. The bacterium contained 16:1ω7c, 16:0 and 14:0 as major cellular fatty acids, and 3-OH 14:0, 3-OH 10:0 and 3-OH 12:0 as major hydroxy fatty acids. The DNA base composition of the isolate was 50.4 mol% G+C. The major quinone was Q-9. The bacterium is distinguished from currently recognized bacterial genera based on phylogenetic and phenotypic features and should be classified in a novel genus for which the name Endozoicomonas elysicola gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. (type strain MKT110T=IAM 15107T=KCTC 12372T; GenBank accession no. AB196667).