Sulfitobacter profundi sp. nov., isolated from deep seawater

A Gram-stain-negative, rod-shaped, obligately aerobic, chemoheterotrophic bacterium which is motile by means of a single polar flagellum, designated SAORIC-263^T, was isolated from deep seawater of the Pacific Ocean. Phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rRNA gene sequences and genomebased phylogeny revealed that strain SAORIC-263^T belonged to the genus Sulfitobacter and shared 96.1-99.9% 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities with Sulfitobacter species. Wholegenome sequencing of strain SAORIC-263^T revealed a genome size of 3.9Mbp and DNA G+C content of 61.3 mol%. The SAORIC-263^T genome shared an average nucleotide identity and digital DNA-DNA hybridization of 79.1-88.5% and 18.9-35.0%, respectively, with other Sulfitobacter genomes. The SAORIC-263^T genome contained the genes related to benzoate degradation, which are frequently found in deep-sea metagenome. The strain contained summed feature 8 (C_18:1ω7c), C_18:1ω7c 11-methyl, and C_16:0 as the predominant cellular fatty acids as well as ubiquinone-10 (Q-10) as the major respiratory quinone. The major polar lipids of the strain were phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol, diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylcholine, and aminolipid. On the basis of taxonomic data obtained in this study, it is suggested that strain SAORIC-263^T represents a novel species of the genus Sulfitobacter, for which the name Sulfitobacter profundi sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is SAORIC-263^T (= KACC 21183^T = NBRC 113428^T).