A marine bacterium, NMD7(T), was isolated from seawater of the East China Sea. The cells were found to be aerobic, Gram-stain negative, non-motile rods. Growth of strain NMD7(T) could be observed in the medium without Na(+). Flexirubin-type pigments were observed to be produced. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that strain NMD7(T) is an authentic member of the Cytophaga-Flavobacterium-Bacteroides phylum, forming a monophyletic clade as retrieved in neighbor-joining, maximum-likelihood and maximum-parsimony phylogenetic trees, and is closely related to Formosa spongicola A2(T) (96.0 %). The predominant respiratory quinone was determined to be MK-6. Major cellular fatty acids were identified as iso-C15:0, iso-C15:1 G and iso-C17:0 3-OH. The main polar lipids were found to consist of phosphatidylethanolamine, one aminophospholipid, three aminolipids and five unidentified lipids. Based on phenotypic, chemotaxonomic and phylogenetic characteristics, it is proposed that strain NMD7(T) be classified as representing a new genus, Feifantangia gen. nov. and a new species, Feifantangia zhejiangensis sp. nov. The type strain is NMD7(T) (=KCTC 42445T =MCCC 1K00458T).
Keywords: East China Sea; Feifantangia zhejiangensis; Flavobacteriaceae; Polyphasic taxonomy; Sea water.