Strain CAIM 1076T was isolated from a cultured oyster Crassostrea gigas in Puerto Peñasco, Sonora state, México. The strain was taxonomically characterised by means of a genomic approach, comprising 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, multilocus sequence analysis (MLSA), the DNA G+C content and whole genome analyses (ANI and GGDC), and by phenotypic characterisation. Strain CAIM 1076T was found to be catalase and oxidase positive, and cells were observed to be motile and facultative anaerobic. Analysis of the almost-complete 16S rRNA gene sequence placed this strain within the genus Vibrio; closely related species were Vibrio maritimus, Vibrio variabilis, Vibrio proteolyticus, and Vibrio nigripulchritudo with similarity values of 98.9, 98.5, 98.1, and 98.0 %, respectively. MLSA of six housekeeping genes (ftsZ, gapA, gyrB, recA, rpoA and topA) was performed with the closely related species. A draft genome sequence of strain CAIM 1076T was obtained. The DNA G+C content of this strain was determined to be 44.5 mol %. The genomic similarity values with V. maritimus were 71.6 % (ANIb), 85.1 % (ANIm) and a GGDC value of 20.3 ± 2.3 %; with V. variabilis the genomic similarities were 71.8 % (ANIb), 85.4 % (ANIm) and 20.0 ± 2.3 % (GGDC); with V. proteolyticus, 71.6 % (ANIb), 84.1 % (ANIm) and 18.8 ± 2.2 % (GGDC); and with V. nigripulchritudo, 70.8 % (ANIb), 84.9 % (ANIm) and 20.5 ± 2.3 % (GGDC). These ANI and GGDC values are below the thresholds for the delimitation of prokaryotic species, i.e., 95-96 and 70 %, respectively. Phenotypic characters also showed differences with the closely related species analysed. The results presented here support the description of a novel species, for which the name Vibrio sonorensis sp. nov. is proposed, with strain CAIM 1076T (=CECT 9100T, =DSM 102190T) as the type strain.
Keywords: Vibrio maritimus; Vibrio nigripulchritudo; Vibrio proteolyticus; Vibrio sonorensis; Vibrio variabilis; Vibrionaceae.