Altererythrobacter aquaemixtae sp. nov., isolated from the junction between the ocean and a freshwater spring.

A Gram-stain-negative, aerobic, non-motile and ovoid or rod-shaped bacterial strain, designated JSSK-8T, was isolated from the place where the ocean and a freshwater spring meet at Jeju Island, South Korea. Strain JSSK-8T grew optimally at pH 7.0-8.0, at 30 °C and in the presence of 2.0 % (w/v) NaCl. In a neighbour-joining phylogenetic tree based on 16S rRNA gene sequences, strain JSSK-8T fell within the clade comprising the type strains of species of the genus Altererythrobacter. Strain JSSK-8T exhibited 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity values of 97.7 and 97.2 % to the type strains of Altererythrobacteraestiaquae and Altererythrobacterluteolus, respectively, and of 93.5-96.2 % to the type strains of the other species of the genus Altererythrobacter. Strain JSSK-8T contained Q-10 as the predominant ubiquinone and C18 : 1ω7c, summed feature 3 (C16 : 1ω6c and/or C16 : 1ω7c), C17 : 1ω6c, C16 : 0 and 11-methyl C18 : 1ω7c as the major fatty acids. The major polar lipids detected in strain JSSK-8T were phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol and sphingoglycolipid. The DNA G+C content of strain JSSK-8T was 59.0 mol%, and its mean DNA-DNA relatedness values with the type strains of A. aestiaquae and A. luteolus were 13 and 16 %, respectively. Differential phenotypic properties, together with the phylogenetic and genetic distinctiveness, revealed that strain JSSK-8T is separated from recognized species of the genus Altererythrobacter. On the basis of the data presented, strain JSSK-8T is considered to represent a novel species of the genus Altererythrobacter, for which the name Altererythrobacter aquaemixtae sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is JSSK-8T (=KCTC 52763T=NBRC 112764T).