Lewinella aurantiaca sp. Nov., a carotenoid pigment-producing bacterium isolated from surface seawater

A Gram-stain-negative, aerobic, rod-shaped, carotenoid-pigmented, motile-by-gliding bacterium, which was designated as SSH13^T, was isolated from a surface seawater sample collected from Sehwa Beach in the Republic of Korea. Strain SSH13^T was oxidase-negative, catalase-positive and grew at 2–37 °C (optimum, 30 °C), in the presence of 0.5–6% NaCl and within a pH range of pH 6–10 (optimum, pH 8). The novel isolate required NaCl for growth and grew optimally with approximately 2% NaCl. Chemotaxonomic and morphological characteristics were consistent with members of the genus Lewinella. Furthermore, phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequencing revealed that strain SSH13^T was most closely related to the type strains of the genus Lewinella. Strain SSH13^T had highest 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities to Lewinella persica DSM 23188^T (95.3%) and Lewinella agarilytica KCTC 12774^T (95.0%). The major fatty acids of SSH13^T were summed feature 3 (C_16:1 ω7c and/ or C_16:1 ω6c) and iso-C_15:0. Strain SSH13^T contained phosphatidylethanolamine as a major polar lipid. Menaquinone-7 was the predominant respiratory quinone. The average nucleotide identity values between strain SSH13^T and L. persica T-3^T and L. agari-lytica SST-19^T were 72.9 and 72.6%, respectively. The DNA G+C content of the genomic DNA was 52.8 mol%. The present study aimed to determine the multiple-antibiotic resistance of the novel bacterium. Based on phylogenetic and phenotypic analyses, strain SSH13^T is considered to represent a novel species of the genus Lewinella, for which the name Lewinella aurantiaca sp. nov. (type strain SSH13^T=KACC 21167^T=NBRC 113866^T) is proposed.