A Gram-stain-negative, rod-shaped, facultative anaerobic bacterium, designated strain 3539T, was isolated from coastal sediment of Weihai, PR China. Optimal growth occurred at 28 °C, pH 7.5-8.0 and in the presence of 3.0 % (w/v) NaCl. Results of phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that strain 3539T formed a robust clade with members of the genus Marinicella and was closely related to Marinicella litoralis JCM 16154T, Marinicella sediminis F2T and Marinicella pacifica sw153T with 97.7, 96.2 and 95.4 % sequence similarity, respectively. The average amino acid identity, percentage of conserved proteins, average nucleotide identity and digital DNA-DNA hybridization values between strain 3539T and M. litoralis JCM 16154T were 64.9, 68.3, 72.8 and 18.9 %, respectively. The genomic DNA G+C content of strain 3539T was 42.0 mol%. The dominant respiratory quinone was ubiquinone-8, and the major fatty acids were iso-C15 : 0 and summed feature 3 (C16 : 1 ω7c/C16 : 1 ω6c). The polar lipids of strain 3539T consisted of phosphatidyldimethylethanolamine, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylcholine, one unidentified aminophospholipid, one unidentified lipid and three unidentified phospholipids. Based on the combination of phylogenetic, phenotypic and chemotaxonomic data, strain 3539T is considered to represent a novel species within the genus Marinicella in he family Alcanivoracaceae, for which the name Marinicella rhabdoformis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain of the new species is 3539T (=KCTC 72414T=MCCC 1H00388T).
Keywords: Marinicella; draft genome sequencing; polyphasic taxonomy.