Isolation and Characterization of a Novel Agar-Degrading Marine Bacterium, Gayadomonas joobiniege gen, nov, sp. nov., from the Southern Sea, Korea

An agar-degrading bacterium, designated as strain $G7^T$, was isolated from a coastal seawater sample from Gaya Island (Gayado in Korean), Republic of Korea. The isolated strain $G7^T$ is gram-negative, rod shaped, aerobic, non-motile, and non-pigmented. A similarity search based on its 16S rRNA gene sequence revealed that it shares 95.5%, 90.6%, and 90.0% similarity with the 16S rRNA gene sequences of Catenovulum agarivorans $YM01^T$, Algicola sagamiensis, and Bowmanella pacifica W3-$3A^T$, respectively. Phylogenetic analyses demonstrated that strain $G7^T$ formed a distinct monophyletic clade closely related to species of the family Alteromonadaceae in the Alteromonas-like Gammaproteobacteria. The G+C content of strain $G7^T$ was 41.12 mol%. The DNA-DNA hybridization value between strain $G7^T$ and the phylogenetically closest strain $YM01^T$ was 19.63%. The genomes of $G7^T$ and $YM01^T$ had an average ANIb value of 70.00%. The predominant isoprenoid quinone of this particular strain was ubiquinone-8, whereas that of C. agarivorans $YM01^T$ was menaquinone-7. The major fatty acids of strain $G7^T$ were Iso-$C_{15:0}$ (41.47%), Anteiso-$C_{15:0}$ (22.99%), and $C_{16:1}{\omega}7c/iso-C_{15:0}2-OH$ (8.85%), which were quite different from those of $YM01^T$. Comparison of the phenotypic characteristics related to carbon utilization, enzyme production, and susceptibility to antibiotics also demonstrated that strain $G7^T$ is distinct from C. agarivorans $YM01^T$. Based on its phenotypic, chemotaxonomic, and phylogenetic distinctiveness, strain $G7^T$ was considered a novel genus and species in the Gammaproteobacteria, for which the name Gayadomonas joobiniege gen. nov. sp. nov. (ATCC BAA-2321 = $DSM25250^T=KCTC23721^T$) is proposed.