Luteivirga sdotyamensis gen. nov., sp. nov., a novel bacterium of the phylum Bacteroidetes isolated from the Mediterranean sponge Axinella polypoides

A novel aerobic bacterium, designated strain PIII.02T, was isolated from the Mediterranean sponge Axinella polypoides collected off the Israeli coast near Sdot Yam. The non-motile cells were Gram-negative, oxidase-positive and catalase-positive. The orange pigment of colonies growing on marine agar was neither diffusible nor Flexirubin-like. Strain PIII.02T grew at 15-35°C, at pH 6.0-9.0, with 20-70 g L-1 NaCl and 10-80 g L-1 sea salts. The predominant fatty acids were iso-C15:0 (23.7%), iso-C16:1 H (18.1%), iso-C16:0 (16.5%), C16:0 (14.0%), anteiso-C15:0 (12.4%), C16:1?7c (5.9%). The major respiratory quinone was MK-7. The DNA G+C content of the strain was 38.1 mol%. Results from 16S rDNA sequence analysis indicated that PIII.02T was distantly related to other members of the phylum Bacteroidetes. The closest described species is Persicobacter diffluens NCIMB 1402T (87.6% 16S rDNA nucleotide similarity). Based on our polyphasic data, we propose a novel genus and species, Luteivirga sdotyamensis gen. nov., sp. nov., with the type strain PIII.02T (= ATCC BAA-2393T = LMG 26723T).