A novel Gram-negative, non-motile, non-spore forming, facultatively anaerobic and short-rod shaped bacterial strain, designated as 325-5T, was isolated from marine sediment obtained from a coastal region in South Korea. Phylogenetic analysis based on the 16S rRNA gene sequence of strain 325-5T showed close similarity to Lutibacter crassostreae (97.8 %). The novel isolate was found to grow optimally at 25 °C and pH 7.0. The major fatty acids identified in the strain were iso C15:0 and iso C15:0 3OH, which supports the affiliation of strain 325-5T to the genus Lutibacter. Menaquinone (MK-6) was identified as the respiratory quinone component. The polar lipid profile was found to contain phosphatidylethanolamine and two unidentified lipids. The G+C molar content of strain 325-5T was determined to be 33.1 mol%. DNA-DNA hybridization of strain 325-5T exhibited less than 40 % relatedness to L. crassostreae KCTC 42461T. Pigment analysis showed the presence of carotenoid pigments. Based on this polyphasic analysis, we propose that strain 325-5T represents a novel species of the genus Lutibacter, for which the name Lutibacter oceani sp. nov. (type strain 325-5T = JCM 30924T = KEMB 7306-529T) is proposed.
Keywords: 16S rRNA; Bacteria; Characterisation; Lutibacter; Taxonomy.