Fulvimarina endophytica sp. nov., a novel endophytic bacterium isolated from bark of Sonneratia caseolaris.

A Gram-negative, aerobic, short-rod-shaped, motile (with a terminal flagellum), non-spore-forming bacterium, designated strain 85^T, was isolated from a surface-sterilized bark of Sonneratia caseolaris collected from Qinzhou in Guangxi, China and was analyzed using a polyphasic approach to determine its taxonomic position. Strain 85^T grew optimally in the presence of 1-2% (w/v) NaCl at 30°C and pH 6.0-7.0. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequence suggested that strain 85^T belonged to the genus Fulvimarina and shared the highest 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity with Fulvimarina pelagi HTCC2506^T (96.16%). The cell-wall peptidoglycan contained meso-diaminopimelic acid and ubiquinone Q-10 was the predominant respiratory lipoquinone. The polar lipids comprised diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylcholine, an unidentified amino lipid, three unidentified phospholipids and six unidentified lipids. The major fatty acid was C_18:1ω7c. The DNA G+C content of strain 85^T was 65.4 mol%, and the average nucleotide identity and estimated DDH values between strain 85^T and the type strain of Fulvimarina pelagi HTCC2506^T were 77.3% and 21.7%, respectively. Based on the phylogenetic, phenotypic, and chemotaxonomic analyses, strain 85^T should be considered as a novel species of the genus Fulvimarina with the proposed name Fulvimarina endophytica sp. nov., and its type strain is 85^T (= KCTC 62717^T = CGMCC 1.13665^T).