A novel non-sporulating, non-motile, catalase-and oxidase-positive, facultatively anaerobic, moderately halophilic, Gram-positive coccus, designated JSM 076033 T , was isolated from a sea urchin (Hemicentrotus pulcherrimus) collected from the South China Sea. Strain JSM 076033 T was able to grow in the presence of 0.5-25.0 % (w/v) total salts and at pH 6.0-10.0 and 10-45 6C; optimum growth was observed with 5.0-10.0 % (w/v) total salts and at pH 7.0-8.0 and 25-30 6C. The major amino acid constituents of the cell wall were glycine, lysine and alanine. The major cellular fatty acids were anteiso-C 15 : 0 , iso-C 15 : 0 and anteiso-C 17 : 0 . The respiratory quinones were MK-7 (60.7 %) and MK-6 (39.3 %) and the polar lipids were diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol and an unidentified phospholipid. The DNA G+C content was 40.3 mol%. A phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequence comparisons revealed that strain JSM 076033 T should be assigned to the genus Jeotgalicoccus.The sequence similarities between the novel isolate and the type strains of recognized Jeotgalicoccus species were in the range 95. et al., 2003). During an investigation of the diversity of the microbial population of invertebrates inhabiting the South China Sea, we isolated a novel moderately halophilic bacterium, designated JSM 076033 T , from a sea urchin (Hemicentrotus pulcherrimus) collected from Leizhou Bay, China. On the basis of the results of a polyphasic taxonomic analysis, this strain represents a novel species of the genus Jeotgalicoccus.For strain isolation, serial dilutions (1 : 10) of homogenates of the sea urchin were plated on Difco marine agar 2216 (MA; pH 7.5), supplemented with 0-20 % (w/v) NaCl, at 28 u C for 7-28 days. A creamy-white-pigmented colony, designated strain JSM 076033 T , was picked from a plate of MA supplemented with 10 % (w/v) NaCl. It was maintained both on slants of MA supplemented with 5 % (w/v) NaCl (referred to as MA5) at 4 u C and in Difco marineThe GenBank/EMBL/DDBJ accession number for the 16S rRNA gene sequence of strain JSM 076033 T is EU583727.A supplementary table showing the fatty acid compositions of strain JSM 076033 T and members of the genus Jeotgalicoccus is available with the online version of this paper.

Bacillus neizhouensis sp. nov., a halophilic marine bacterium isolated from a sea anemone A novel Gram-stain-positive, slightly halophilic, facultatively alkaliphilic, non-motile, catalase-and oxidase-positive, endospore-forming, rod-shaped, aerobic bacterium, strain JSM 071004 T , was isolated from a sea anemone collected from Neizhou Bay in the South China Sea. Growth occurred with 0.5-10 % (w/v) total salts (optimum 2-4 %) and at pH 6.5-10.0 (optimum pH 8.5) and 4-30 6C (optimum 25 6C). meso-Diaminopimelic acid was present in the cell-wall peptidoglycan. The predominant respiratory quinone was menaquinone 7 (MK-7) and the polar lipids consisted of diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol and phosphatidylethanolamine. The major cellular fatty acids were anteiso-C 15 : 0 and iso-C 15 : 0. The genomic DNA G+C content was 39.8 mol%. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that strain JSM 071004 T belongs to the genus Bacillus, being related most closely to the type strain of Bacillus agaradhaerens (sequence similarity 97.3 %), followed by the type strains of Bacillus cellulosilyticus (96.2 %), Bacillus clarkii (96.1 %) and Bacillus polygoni (96.0 %). The combination of phylogenetic analysis, DNA-DNA hybridization, phenotypic characteristics and chemotaxonomic data support the proposal that strain JSM 071004 T represents a novel species of the genus Bacillus, for which the name Bacillus neizhouensis sp. nov. is proposed, with JSM 071004 T (5CCTCC AB 207161 T 5DSM 19794 T 5KCTC 13187 T) as the type strain. There has been increasing interest in halophilic, halo-tolerant, alkaliphilic and/or alkalitolerant Bacillus species, attributable to their ability to grow under extreme conditions as well as to the use of their enzymes in biotechnological applications (Ash et al.

A Gram-positive, moderately halophilic, alkalitolerant, filamentous, aerobic actinomycete, designated strain JSM 073097 T , was isolated from a sea anemone collected from a tidal flat in the South China Sea. Phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that the new isolate was a member of the genus Nocardiopsis and was most closely related to Nocardiopsis kunsanensis HA-9 T , Nocardiopsis xinjiangensis YIM 90004 T and Nocardiopsis salina YIM 90010 T (99.6, 98.5 and 98.1 % similarity, respectively). Phenotypic characteristics and chemotaxonomic data also indicated that strain JSM 073097 T was a member of the genus Nocardiopsis. The strain grew well on most of the media tested, producing white to yellow-white substrate mycelium and white aerial mycelium and straight to flexuous hyphae. The substrate mycelium was well developed and fragmented with age; the aerial mycelium produced long, straight to flexuous spore chains with non-motile, smooth-surfaced, rod-shaped spores. The strain grew in the presence of 1-15 % (w/v) total salts and at pH 6.0-10.5 and 20-35 6C; optimum growth occurred in the presence of 5-7 % (w/v) total salts and at pH 8.5 and 25 6C. Whole-cell hydrolysates of strain JSM 073097 T contained meso-diaminopimelic acid and no diagnostic sugars. The predominant menaquinones were MK-10(H 4 ), ) and MK-10(H 8 ). The major cellular fatty acids were iso-C 15 : 0 , iso-C 16 : 0 , anteiso-C 16 : 0 and 10-methyl C 18 : 0 . Polar lipids comprised diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylglycerol. The DNA G+C content of strain JSM 073097 T was 70.4 mol%. The combination of phylogenetic analysis, DNA-DNA relatedness data, phenotypic characteristics and chemotaxonomic data supported the suggestion that strain JSM 073097 T represents a novel species of the genus Nocardiopsis, for which the name Nocardiopsis litoralis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is JSM 073097The genus Nocardiopsis was first described by Meyer (1976) and, at the time or writing, comprises 28 recognized species (Meyer, 1976;Grund & Kroppenstedt, 1990;Yassin et al., 1993Yassin et al., , 1997Al-Tai & Ruan, 1994;Chun et al., 2000;Evtushenko et al., 2000; Peltola et al., 2001;Al-Zarban et al., 2002; Kämpfer et al., 2002; Schippers et al., 2002;Li et al., 2003Li et al., , 2006Hozzein et al., 2004; Sabry et al., 2004;Chen et al., 2008;Hozzein & Goodfellow, 2008;Yang et al., 2008;Zhang et al., 2008 filamentous, Gram-positive strain, designated JSM 073097 T , was isolated from a sea anemone collected from a tidal flat near Naozhou Island, southern China. Based on the results of the present taxonomic study, this strain is considered to represent a novel species of the genus Nocardiopsis. Strain JSM 073097T was isolated from homogenates of a sea anemone by plating 1 : 10 serial dilutions of the sample on marine agar 2216 (MA; Difco) supplemented with 10 % (w/v) NaCl and cultivating at 25 u C for 2 weeks. After primary isolation and purification, the isolate was preserved both on slants of MA supplemented with ...

Pontibacillus litoralis sp. nov., a facultatively anaerobic bacterium isolated from a sea anemone, and emended description of the genus Pontibacillus , was isolated from a sea anemone (Anthopleura xanthogrammica) collected from the South China Sea. Strain JSM 072002T was able to grow with 0.5-15 % (w/v) NaCl and at pH 6.0-10.0 and 15-50 6C;optimum growth was observed with 2-5 % (w/v) NaCl and at pH 7.5 and 35 6C. mesoDiaminopimelic acid was present in the cell-wall peptidoglycan. The major cellular fatty acids were iso-C 15 : 0 and anteiso-C 15 : 0 . The predominant respiratory quinone was menaquinone 7 and the genomic DNA G+C content was 41. ). An emended description of the genus Pontibacillus is also presented.The genus Pontibacillus was first proposed by Lim et al. (2005a) and was defined as containing Gram-positive, moderately halophilic, strictly aerobic, motile, endosporeforming rods with meso-diaminopimelic acid cell-wall type and menaquinone 7 (MK-7) as the predominant respiratory quinone (Lim et al., 2005a, b). At the time of writing, the genus comprised three species with validly published names: Pontibacillus chungwhensis (Lim et al., 2005a), Pontibacillus marinus (Lim et al., 2005b) and Pontibacillus halophilus (Chen et al., 2009b). During an investigation of the diversity of the microbial population of invertebrates inhabiting the South China Sea (Chen et al., 2009a, b, c, d, e;Xiao et al., 2009), a facultatively anaerobic, moderately halophilic, endospore-forming, Gram-positive bacterium, designated JSM 072002 T , was isolated from a sea anemone collected from a tidal flat of Naozhou Island, China. Based 3These authors contributed equally to this work.The GenBank/EMBL/DDBJ accession numbers for the 16S rRNA gene sequences of strain JSM 072002 T and Pontibacillus marinus KCTC 3917 T are EU583724 and FJ808613, respectively.A supplementary figure showing maximum-parsimony and maximumlikelihood phylogenetic trees based on 16S RNA gene sequences is available with the online version of this paper.

A Gram-positive-staining, moderately halophilic, strictly aerobic, catalase-and oxidase-positive, rod-shaped bacterium, designated strain JSM 076056 T , was isolated from a sea urchin collected from the South China Sea. Cells were motile by means of peritrichous flagella and formed ellipsoidal endospores lying in subterminal swollen sporangia. Strain JSM 076056 T was able to grow at salinities of 2-25 % (w/v) total salts and at pH 6.0-10.0 and 15-40 6C; optimum growth was observed with 5-10 % (w/v) total salts and at pH 7.0-8.0 and 25-30 6C. It was incapable of growing with NaCl as the sole salt. meso-Diaminopimelic acid was present in the cell-wall peptidoglycan. The major cellular fatty acids were iso-C 15 : 0 , iso-C 16 : 0 , iso-C 14 : 0, anteiso-C 15 : 0 and C 16 : 1 v7c alcohol. The predominant respiratory quinone was MK-7 and the genomic DNA G+C content was 45.5 mol%. A phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that strain JSM 076056 T belonged to the family Bacillaceae and was related most closely to the type strains of the two recognized species of the genus Pontibacillus, namely Pontibacillus chungwhensis BH030062 T (96.4 % sequence similarity) and Pontibacillus marinus BH030004 T (96.2 %); these three strains formed a robust cluster in the phylogenetic tree. In combination, the phylogenetic, phenotypic and chemotaxonomic data indicate that strain JSM 076056 T represents a novel species of the genus Pontibacillus, for which the name Pontibacillus halophilus sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is JSM 076056 T (5CCTCC AA 207029 T 5DSM 19796 T 5KCTC 13190 T ).The genus Pontibacillus was first proposed by Lim et al. (2005a). Members of this genus are Gram-positive, moderately halophilic, strictly aerobic, motile, endosporeforming rods, having a meso-diaminopimelic acid cell-wall type and containing MK-7 as the predominant respiratory quinone. At the time of writing, the genus comprises two recognized species, Pontibacillus chungwhensis (Lim et al., 2005a) and Pontibacillus marinus (Lim et al., 2005b).During an investigation of the diversity of the microbial population of invertebrates inhabiting the South China Sea, we isolated a moderately halophilic bacterium, designated JSM 076056 T , from a sea urchin collected from Leizhou Bay, China. On the basis of the results of a polyphasic taxonomic study, this strain represents a novel species of the genus Pontibacillus.For strain isolation, serial dilutions (1 : 10) of a sea urchin homogenate were plated on Difco marine agar 2216 (MA; pH 7.5), supplemented with 0-20 % (w/v) NaCl, at 28 u C for 7-28 days. A yellow-pigmented colony, designated strain JSM 076056 T , was picked from a plate of MA supplemented with 10 % (w/v) NaCl. It was maintained both on slants of MA supplemented with 5 % (w/v) NaCl (containing approximately 7 % NaCl and 8.4 % total salts; here referred to as MA5) at 4 u C and in Difco marine broth 2216 (MB) supplemented with 20 % (v/v) glycerol at 280 u C. Unless indicated otherwise, morphological and physiological studi...

A pale yellow-colored, moderately halophilic, Gram-negative, catalase- and oxidase-positive, non-sporulating, rod-shaped, motile, aerobic bacterium, designated strain JSM 073008(T), was isolated from a sea anemone (Anthopleura xanthogrammica) collected from Naozhou Island, Leizhou Bay, South China Sea. The organism was able to grow with 1-20% (w/v) total salts (optimum, 5-10%), at pH 6.0-10.0 (optimum, pH 7.5) and 10-40 degrees C (optimum, 25-30 degrees C). The major cellular fatty acids were C(16:0), C(16:1) omega7c/iso-C(15:0) 2-OH and C(18:1) omega7c. The polar lipids consisted of phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol and an unidentified phospholipid. The predominant respiratory quinone was Q-8 and the genomic DNA G + C content was 47.5 mol%. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that strain JSM 073008(T) should be assigned to the genus Alteromonas, being most closely related to Alteromonas hispanica F-32(T) (sequence similarity 96.9%), followed by Alteromonas genovensis LMG 24078(T) (96.6%) and Alteromonas litorea TF-22(T) (96.4%). The sequence similarities between the novel isolate and the type strains of other recognized Alteromonas species ranged from 95.9% (with Alteromonas stellipolaris ANT 69a(T)) to 94.5% (with Alteromonas simiduii BCRC 17572(T)). The combination of phylogenetic analysis, phenotypic characteristics and chemotaxonomic data supported the view that strain JSM 073008(T) represents a new species of the genus Alteromonas, for which the name Alteromonas halophila sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is JSM 073008(T) (=CCTCC AA 207035(T) = KCTC 22164(T)).

Pigmentiphaga litoralis sp. nov., a facultatively anaerobic bacterium isolated from a tidal flat sediment The genus Pigmentiphaga, belonging to the family Alcaligenaceae (De Ley et al., 1986), was first proposed by Blümel et al. (2001) and was defined as comprising Gram-negative, motile or non-motile, non-sporulating, catalase-and oxidase-positive rods, with ubiquinone Q-8 as the predominant respiratory quinone and phosphatidylethanolamine as the major polar lipid. At the time of writing, the genus comprised two recognized species, Pigmentiphaga kullae and Pigmentiphaga daeguensis. During investigation of the microbial diversity of Naozhou Island, Leizhou Bay, South China Sea, China, a Gram-negative bacterium, designated strain JSM 061001 T , was isolated from a tidal flat sediment sample. Based on the results of a polyphasic taxonomic study, this strain is proposed to represent a novel species of the genus Pigmentiphaga.3These authors contributed equally to this work.The GenBank/EMBL/DDBJ accession number for the 16S rRNA gene sequence of strain JSM 061001 T is EU583723.Maximum-parsimony and maximum-likelihood phylogenetic trees showing the position of strain JSM 061001 T among other related taxa inferred from 16S rRNA gene sequences, and a table detailing the fatty acid compositions of strain JSM 061001 T and members of the genus Pigmentiphaga are available as supplementary material with the online version of this paper.