A Gram-staining-negative, facultatively aerobic bacterium, designated SM-2(T), was isolated from a sea-tidal flat of Yellow Sea, South Korea. Cells were catalase- and oxidase-positive motile rods with a single polar flagellum. Growth of strain SM-2(T) was observed at 10-37 °C (optimum, 25-30 °C), at pH 5.5-8.5 (optimum, pH 7.0-7.5) and in the presence of 0-11% (w/v) NaCl (optimum, 2%). Strain SM-2(T) contained ubiquinone-8 (Q-8) as the sole isoprenoid quinone and C(17:1)ω8c, summed feature 3 (comprising C(16:1)ω7c and/or iso-C(15:0) 2-OH), C(17:0) and C(18:1)ω7c as the major fatty acids. Phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol, diphosphatidylglycerol and an unidentified lipid were identified as the major cellular polar lipids. The G+C content of the genomic DNA was 52.2 mol%. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain SM-2(T) formed a tight phyletic lineage with Zhongshania antarctica ZS5-23(T), Zhongshania guokunii ZS6-22(T) and Spongiibacter borealis CL-AS9(T), but that S. borealis CL-AS9(T) was distinct from other species of the genus Spongiibacter. Based on 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities, strain SM-2(T) was most closely related to S. borealis CL-AS9(T), Z. antarctica ZS5-23(T) and Z. guokunii ZS6-22(T), with similarities of 99.5%, 98.9% and 98.7%, respectively, but the DNA-DNA hybridization values among these species were clearly lower than 70%. On the basis of chemotaxonomic data and molecular properties, we propose strain SM-2(T) represents a novel species of the genus Zhongshania with the name Zhongshania aliphaticivorans sp. nov. (type strain SM-2(T) =KACC 18120(T) =JCM 30138(T)). We also propose the transfer of Spongiibacter borealis Jang et al. 2011 to the genus Zhongshania as Zhongshania borealis comb. nov. (type strain CL-AS9(T) =KCCM 90094(T) =JCM 17304(T)).
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