A Gram-negative, helical bacterium designated PH27A T was cultivated from an anchialine pool on Pearl and Hermes Atoll, Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. The obligately halophilic strain was motile by bipolar tufts of flagella and grew optimally at pH 7, and microaerobically or aerobically. Closest neighbours based on 16S rRNA gene nucleotide sequence identity are Marinospirillum celere v1c_Sn-red T (93.31 %) and M. alkaliphilum Z4 T (92.10 %) in the family Oceanospirillaceae, class Gammaproteobacteria. PH27A T is distinguished phenotypically from members of the genus Marinospirillum by its hydrolysis of gelatin, the absence of growth in media containing #1 % (w/v) NaCl and the ranges of temperature (12-40 8C) and pH (5-8) for growth. The major compound ubiquinone Q-9 distinguishes the quinone system of strain PH27A T from those in members of the genus Marinospirillum and other members of the Oceanospirillaceae, in which the major quinone is Q-8. Major polar lipids in PH27A T were phosphatidylethanolamine and phosphatidylglycerol, with moderate amounts of diphosphatidylglycerol and phosphatidylserine. Spermidine and cadaverine dominated the polyamine pattern; large proportions of cadaverine have not been reported in members of the genus Marinospirillum. Genotypic and chemotaxonomic data show that PH27A T does not belong in the genus Marinospirillum or other genera of the family Oceanospirillaceae or the Halomonadaceae. We propose a new genus, Terasakiispira gen. nov., be created to accommodate Terasakiispira papahanaumokuakeensis gen. nov., sp. nov. as the type species, with PH27A T (5ATCC BAA-995 T 5DSM 16455 T 5DSM 23961 T) as the type strain.

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