Luteivirga sdotyamensis gen. nov., sp. nov., a novel bacterium of the phylum Bacteroidetes isolated from the Mediterranean sponge Axinella polypoides

A novel aerobic bacterium, designated strain PIII.02^T, was isolated from a Mediterranean sponge (Axinella polypoides) collected off the Israeli coast near Sdot Yam. The non-motile cells were Gram-staining-negative, oxidase-positive and catalase-positive. The orange pigment of colonies growing on marine agar was neither diffusible nor flexirubin-like. Strain PIII.02^T grew at 15-35 °C, at pH 6.0-9.0, with 2.0-7.0 % (w/v) NaCl, and with 1.0-8.0 % (w/v) sea salts. The predominant fatty acids were iso-C_{15: 0}, iso-C_{16: 1} H, iso-C16: 0, C16: 0, anteiso-C_{15: 0} and C_{16: 1}ω7c. The major respiratory quinone was MK-7. The genomic DNA G+C content of the novel strain was 38.1 mol%. Results from 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis indicated that strain PIII.02^T was distantly related to established members of the phylum Bacteroidetes. The established species found to be most closely related to the novel strain was Persicobacter diffluens NCIMB 1402^T (87.6 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity). Based on the phenotypic and chemotaxonomic data and the results of the phylogenetic analyses, strain PIII.02^T represents a novel species of a new genus, for which the name Luteivirga sdotyamensis gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is PIII.02^T(= ATCC BAA-2393^T = LMG 26723^T).