Haliea rubra sp. nov., a member of the Gammaproteobacteria from the Mediterranean Sea

Abstract

A novel aerobic, Gram-negative bacterium, designated strain CM41_15a T , was isolated from the surface of coastal waters of the north-western Mediterranean Sea. Cells were non-motile straight rods that formed red colonies on marine agar medium. The G+C content of the genomic DNA was 65 mol %. Phylogenetic analysis of the 16S rRNA gene sequence placed the strain in the genus Haliea within the class Gammaproteobacteria. On the basis of the 16S rRNA gene sequence comparison and physiological and biochemical characteristics, strain CM41_15a T represents a novel species, for which the name Haliea rubra sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is CM41_15a T (5DSM 19751 T 5CIP 109758 T 5MOLA 104 T ).Members of the genus Microbulbifer, proposed originally by González et al. (1997), have been isolated from various marine environments, including salt marshes, intertidal sediments and coastal waters. Major amounts of iso-15 : 0 and iso-17 : 1v9c as well as ubiquinone Q-8 were defined as chemical markers for this genus (Yoon et al., 2004). Two strains isolated from the north-western Mediterranean Sea were studied. On the basis of their 16S rRNA gene sequences, the strains were phylogenetically related to the genus Microbulbifer. Fatty acid analysis revealed that iso-15 : 0 and iso-17 : 1v9c were either not present or present at very low levels in both strains. These differences, in addition to 16S rRNA gene dissimilarities and other phenotypic characteristics, led to the proposal of two novel species of two new genera, Haliea salexigens DSM 19537 T (Urios et al., 2008a) and Melitea salexigens DSM 19753 T (Urios et al., 2008b). Recently, another strain was isolated from seawater collected from the same area from which H. salexigens and Melitea salexigens had been isolated. The 16S rRNA gene sequence of the strain had a similarity of 94 % with H. salexigens, its nearest relative. In this paper, we have characterized this isolate and show that it possesses characteristics that allow the proposition of a novel species of the genus Haliea.

Taxonomy and evolution of bacteriochlorophyll a-containing members of the OM60/NOR5 clade of marine gammaproteobacteria: description of Luminiphilus syltensis gen. nov., sp. nov., reclassification of Haliea rubra as Pseudohaliea rubra gen. nov., comb. nov., and emendation of Chromatocurvus halotolerans

“…Degradation of starch and gelatin, reduction of nitrate to nitrite and stimulation of growth by thiosulfate were negative in all strains, as well as diagnostic tests for the enzymes tryptophanase and arginine dihydrolase. Data marked with an asterisk were taken from the literature [18,31]. Published data that disagree with our results are shown in brackets.…”

“…Noteworthy, Haliea rubra ( H. rubra) , which is closely related to C. litoralis was also reported to form red-pigmented colonies on Marine Agar 2216 [18], but in the original species description the formation of photosynthetic pigments was not reported. To exclude the possibility that a phototrophic phenotype has escaped attention in described strains of the genus Haliea , type strains belonging to this genus were cultured in SYPHC medium, which allowed expression of pigments in all photoheterotrophic strains belonging to the OM60/NOR5 clade tested so far.…”

Isolation of Two Novel Marine Ethylene-Assimilating Bacteria, <i>Haliea</i> Species ETY-M and ETY-NAG, Containing Particulate Methane Monooxygenase-like Genes

“…A BLAST search of strains ETY-M and ETY-NAG revealed similarities to the bacteria Haliea sp. MOLA 104 and Haliea rubra strain CM41_15a (43, 44), which were 97% and 96% identical, respectively. The phylogenetic tree showed that the two isolated strains were in the clade comprising Haliea spp.…”

Mangrove Bacterial Diversity and the Impact of Oil Contamination Revealed by Pyrosequencing: Bacterial Proxies for Oil Pollution

“…Representatives of this order constituted more than 50% of the gammaproteobacterial sequences before oil contamination, but this decreased to about 15% and 5% 23 days after addition of 2% and 5% oil, respectively, and about 20% 66 days after addition of 2% oil. The genus Haliea was recently described, isolated from marine coastal area [30], as well as the other two Haliea species described until this moment were also isolated from the marine environment [31], [32].…”