Aliifodinibius halophilus sp. nov., a moderately halophilic member of the genus Aliifodinibius, and proposal of Balneolaceae fam. nov. At the time of writing, the order Sphingobacteriales in the class Sphingobacteriia of the phylum Bacteroidetes contains three families, Chitinophagaceaea, Saprospiraceae and Sphingobacteriaceae. Recently, two genera that are phylogenetically classified within the order Sphingobacteriales have been described and named as Fodinibius (Wang et al., 2012) and Aliifodinibius (Wang et al., 2013a). The two genera, which were isolated from a salt mine, exhibit moderately halophilic features. In this study, a novel moderately halophilic bacterium with characteristics similar to members of the genus Aliifodinibius is reported. This research also led to the proposal of a novel family Balneolaceae, encompassing four genera, namely Fodinibius, Aliifodinibius, Gracilimonas During a study into the diversity of halophilic bacteria in marine solar saltern environments, a novel facultatively anaerobic, red, non-motile, Gram-stain-negative bacterial strain, designated 2W32 T , was isolated at 37 C on modified marine agar 2216 (MA) (consisting of distilled water with the following additions (all g l À1 ): sea salt (Sigma), 40; NaCl, 50; yeast extract, 1; peptone, 5; ferric citrate, 0.1; and agar, 18. The pH of the agar was adjusted to 7.5, and it was then autoclaved. Modified marine broth 2216 (MB) with the same composition as the modified MA (excluding agar), and with pH adjusted to 7.5, was autoclaved. This medium was used for all studies, with modifications as described. The sample was collected from a marine solar saltern (122 0¢ 36.9 † E 36 59¢ 46.48 † N) on the Weihai coast, ShandongAbbreviations: ML, maximum-likelihood; NJ, neighbour-joining; TEM, transmission electron microscopy.

Investigations of two Flacourtiaceae plants, Bennettiodendron leprosipes and Flacourtia ramontchi, resulted in the isolation and structural elucidation of six new constituents including two phenolic glycosides ( 1 and 2), one lignan ( 3), two lignan glycosides ( 4 and 5), and a monoterpene glycoside ( 6), together with 22 known compounds ( 7- 28). The structures of the new compounds were elucidated by spectroscopic analysis and chemical methods. The selected isolates 1, 2, 8- 10, 22- 26, and some phenolic glycosides 29- 42 previously isolated from another Flacourtiaceae plant, Itoa orientalis, were tested against snake venom phosphodiesterase I (PDE I) activity. The result indicated that 22, 30, 32, 34, and 40 exhibited moderate inhibitory activities against PDE I with the values ranging from 13.15 to 20.86 %, and 1, 8, 10, 25, 31, 33, 35, 38, 39, and 41 showed weak inhibitory activity.

A novel Gram-stain-negative, non-spore-forming, facultatively anaerobic bacterium, designated YH6T, was isolated from marine sediment in Weihai, China. Cells of starin YH6T were motile, straight rods that formed ivory-white colonies on 2216E agar. Optimal growth occurred at 28-33 °C (range 15-37 °C), in the presence of 2-4 % (w/v) NaCl (range 1-8 %) and at pH 7.5-8.5 (range pH 6.5-9.0). The sole respiratory lipoquinone was Q-8, and the major fatty acids (>10 %) were C16 : 0 and summed feature 3 (C16 : 1ω7c/iso-C15 : 0 2-OH). The polar lipids profile of the novel strain consisted of phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, diphosphatidylglycerol and several other unknown lipids (phospholipids, lipid and phosphoaminolipid). The G+C content of the genomic DNA was 46.5 mol%. The closest type strain phylogenetically to strain YH6T was Vibrio variabilis (92.99 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity) followed by Paramoritella alkaliphila (92.55 %), Pseudoalteromonas aurantia (92.20 %) and Pseudoalteromonas citrea (92.20 %). Phylogenetic analysis of the 16S rRNA gene sequence placed the novel strain in the order Alteromonadales, class Gammaproteobacteria. On the basis of the 16S rRNA gene sequence data as well as physiological and biochemical characteristics, we concluded that strain YH6T represents a novel species of a new genus. We propose the name of Motilimonas eburnea gen. nov., sp. nov. for this novel species. The type strain of the novel species is YH6T (=KCTC 42594T=MCCC 1H00122T).

A novel Gram-stain-negative, rod-shaped, non-spore-forming, aerobic, agarolytic bacterium, designated 017, was isolated from Gracilaria blodgettii collected at the coast of Lingshui county, Hainan province, China. Optimal growth occurred at 28-33 °C (range 15-40 °C), with 3 % (w/v) NaCl (range 2-4 %) and at pH 8.0 (range pH 6.5-8.5). Cells of strain 017 were motile and formed yellow colonies on marine agar 2216. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that strain 017 shared the highest similarity with Teredinibacter turnerae T7902 (94.4 %). The predominant polar lipids of the novel isolate consisted of phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, aminophospholipid and some other unknown lipids. Major cellular fatty acids (>10 %) were C16 : 0, C18 : 1ω7c and summed feature 3 (C16 : 1ω7c/iso-C15 : 0 2-OH), and the sole respiratory lipoquinone was Q-8. The DNA G+C content of strain 017 was 40.2 mol%. Comparative analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequences and phenotypic characterization indicated that strain 017 represents a novel species in a new genus of the family Cellvibrionaceae, order Cellvibrionales, for which the name Agarilytica rhodophyticola gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain of Agarilytica rhodophyticola is 017 (=KCTC 42584=MCCC 1H00123).

A novel Gram-stain-positive, motile and facultatively anaerobic strain, designated NC2-31, was isolated from sediment from the coast of Weihai, PR China. Optimal growth occurred at 37 °C, pH 7.5 and with 2.0-3.0 % (w/v) NaCl. MK-7 was the major respiratory quinone. Meso-diaminopimelic acid was a diagnostic diamino acid in the peptidoglycan. The major polar lipids of NC2-31 were diphosphatidylglycerol (DPG), phosphatidylglycerol (PG) and phosphatidylethanolamine (PE). The genomic DNA G+C content of the strain was 46.3 mol%. The predominant cellular fatty acids (>10.0 %) of NC2-31 were iso-C15 : 0 (18.9 %), anteiso-C15 : 0 (15.8 %), summed feature 3 (C16 : 1ω7c and/or iso-C15 : 0 2-OH) (15.3 %) and iso-C16 : 0 (10.3 %). Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that NC2-31 should be classified as representing a member of the genus Bacillus. Based on data from the current polyphasic study, NC2-31 represents a novel species within the genus Bacillus, for which the name Bacillusmarinisedimentorum sp. nov. is proposed with type strain NC2-31 (=KCTC 33721=MCCC 1K01239).