Zooshikella ganghwensis gen. nov., sp. nov., isolated from tidal flat sediments

Abstract

Two red pigment-producing bacterial strains with a metallic green sheen were isolated from a sediment sample of getbol, the Korean tidal flat. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rDNA sequences showed that these isolates represent a phyletic lineage within the c-Proteobacteria that is distantly related to the genus Hahella. No bacterial species with validly published names showed ¢92 % 16S rRNA similarity with the getbol isolates. The strains were Gram-negative, chemo-organotrophic, aerobic and required NaCl (1-7 %) for growth. They produced pigments with maximum absorption at 540 nm, which indicated the presence of prodigiosin, a well-known red pigment previously detected in Serratia marcescens. The major isoprenoid quinone was ubiquinone-9. The predominant cellular fatty acids were saturated and monounsaturated straight-chain fatty acids. The DNA G+C contents ranged from 40 to 42 mol%. The combination of physiological, biochemical and chemotaxonomic data clearly separated the test strains from other phylogenetically related genera in the c-Proteobacteria. On the basis of polyphasic evidence from this study, it is proposed that the two getbol isolates should be classified in a novel genus, Zooshikella gen. nov., as Zooshikella ganghwensis sp. nov.The Korean tidal flat, called getbol, is the neutral zone that connects land and sea; it is largely found along the west coast of the Korean peninsula. It has been well-known for its vital biological functions, such as bioremediation of pollutants, fishery products, flood control, spawning and nursery grounds for marine animals, which may result from microbial activities and diversity (Korea Ocean Research & Development Institute, 1998). However, members of microbial communities in getbol are largely unknown, as they have never been the subject of systematic taxonomic investigation. Recently, we have initiated a study that involves the isolation and identification of members of the aerobic bacterial community from getbol. In this study, we present the taxonomic properties of two isolates, for which the name Zooshikella ganghwensis sp. nov. is proposed. IsolationTwo aerobic, halophilic bacterial strains were isolated from a sediment sample collected from the getbol of Ganghwa Island in Korea (37u 359 31?90 N, 126u 279 24?50 E). The sample was diluted with sterilized artificial sea water (ASW; Lyman & Fleming, 1940), spread onto a plate containing marine agar 2216 (MA; Difco) and incubated at 25 uC for 3 weeks. The isolates were routinely cultured on MA and maintained as glycerol suspensions (20 %, w/v) at 280 uC. Molecular systematics16S rDNA was enzymically amplified from a single colony. Primers, PCR conditions and sequencing were performed as described elsewhere (Chun & Goodfellow, 1995). The 16S rDNA sequences of strains JC2044T and JC2045 were manually aligned with representative sequences of the c-Proteobacteria obtained from GenBank. Phylogenetic trees were inferred by using the Fitch-Margoliash (Fitch & Margoliash, 1967), maximum-likelihood (Felsenstein, 1993, ...

Intracellular Oceanospirillales bacteria inhabit gills of Acesta bivalves

“…The clade's closest characterized relative (Fig. 3) is the free-living curved rod Zooshikella ganghwensis from tidal flat sediment in Korea (Yi et al, 2003).…”

Isolation and characterization of pigmented bacteria showing antimicrobial activity from Malaysian marine environment

“…JE-34 (FJ595984) in the phylogenetic tree (Figure 4), this isolate was suggested as a member of a new species in the genus Zooshikella. This was mainly based on the pigment production which recently known that Zooshikella able to produce red and yellowish-red but not violet pigment (Yi et al, 2003;Lan et al, 2008;Kim et al, 2010). Further identification of SDPM1 isolate is undergoing in order to confirm this suggestion.…”

A novel agent (Endozoicomonas elysicola) responsible for epitheliocystis in cobia Rachycentrum canadum larvae

“…This organism was first isolated from the sea slug Elysia ornata collected in Japan in 2007 (Kurahashi & Yokota 2007 (Yi et al 2003). Although literature reports on E. elysicola are scarce, it has been identified in salmon suffering from PGI (Steinum et al 2009).…”

“…Analysis of 16S rRNA sequences indicated that the isolate constituted a new lineage in the gammaproteobacteria class, belonging to the order Oceanospiridalles, family Hahellaceae (Garrity et al 2005). The Hahellaceae family contains Endozoicomonas and 4 more separate genera: Hahella (Jeong et al 2005), Halospina (Sorokin et al 2006), Kistimonas (Choi et al 2010) and Zooshikella (Yi et al 2003). Although literature reports on E. elysicola are scarce, it has been identified in salmon suffering from PGI (Steinum et al 2009).…”