Abstract
A novel, moderately halophilic, Gram-positive coccus, designated strain S2R53-5(T), was isolated from jeotgal, a traditional Korean fermented seafood. The organism was strictly aerobic, non-motile, non-sporulating and catalase- and oxidase-positive. Strain S2R53-5(T) grew in the presence of 0.5-15 % (w/v) NaCl and at pH 6.5-11.0, with optimum growth at 5 % (w/v) NaCl and pH 7.0. The temperature range for growth was 20.0-30.0 degrees C, with an optimum temperature of 30 degrees C. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that strain S2R53-5(T) belongs to the family Staphylococcaceae and was most closely related to Salinicoccus roseus DSM 5351(T) (96.8 % gene sequence similarity), Salinicoccus hispanicus DSM 5352(T) (96.1 %), Salinicoccus alkaliphilus T8(T) (95.2 %) and Jeotgalicoccus halotolerans YKJ-101(T) (95.1 %). The genomic DNA G+C content was 47.0 mol%, which is in the range of 46-51 mol% that is characteristic for the genus Salinicoccus. Levels of DNA-DNA relatedness between strain S2R53-5(T) and S. roseus DSM 5351(T), S. hispanicus DSM 5352(T) and S. alkaliphilus KCTC 13928(T) were 32.2, 15.4 and 4.6 %, respectively. Chemotaxonomic data (major menaquinone, MK-6; major fatty acids, iso-C(15 : 0) and anteiso-C(15 : 0); cell-wall murein type, Lys and Gly) and 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis supported the affiliation of strain S2R53-5(T) with the genus Salinicoccus. The combined evidence from the low DNA-DNA relatedness, physiological, biochemical and other genotypic data indicate that strain S2R53-5(T) clearly represents a novel species of the genus Salinicoccus, for which the name Salinicoccus jeotgali sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is S2R53-5(T) (=KCTC 13030(T)=LMG 23640(T)).