Saccharobesus litoralis gen. nov., sp. nov., a novel alginate-degrading bacterium isolated from the surface of intertidal algal turf.

A novel rod-shaped, Gram-stain-negative, strictly aerobic and alginate-degrading marine bacterium, designated CCB-QB4 ^T , was isolated from a surface of algal turf collected from a coastal area of Penang, Malaysia. The cells showed motility by a lateral flagellum. The rod-shaped cells formed long chains end-to-end. Phylogenetic analysis based on the 16S rRNA gene sequence of strain CCB-QB4 ^T showed 94.07, 92.69, 91.52 and 90.90 % sequence similarity to Algibacillus agarilyticus RQJ05 ^T , Catenovulum maritimum Q1 ^T , Catenovulum agarivorans YM01 ^T and Catenovulum sediminis D2 ^T , respectively. Strain CCB-QB4 ^T formed a cluster with A. agarilyticus RQJ05 ^T . Strain CCB-QB4 ^T was catalase-negative, oxidase-positive, and degraded agar, alginate, and starch. Cell growth was observed at 15-40 °C, at pH 7.0-10.0 and in the presence of 1-6 % (w/v) NaCl and glucose. The major fatty acids were summed feature 3 (C _16 : 1  ω7 c /iso-C _15 : 0 2-OH), C _16 : 0 and C _18 : 1  ω7 c . The polar lipids were phosphatidylethanolamine, two unidentified aminolipids, two unidentified glycolipids, an unidentified phospholipid and unidentified lipid. The major respiratory quinone was ubiquinone-8. The genomic DNA G+C content was 46.7 mol%. Based on the phenotypic, chemotaxonomic and phylogenetic data, strain CCB-BQ4 ^T represents a novel species in a new genus, for which the name Saccharobesus litoralis gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is CCB-QB4 ^T (=JCM 33513 ^T =CCB-MBL 5008 ^T ).