A Gram-stain-negative, facultatively anaerobic strain, designated FJ201301T, was isolated from aquaculture water collected from Fujian province, China. Phylogenetic analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that strain FJ201301T belonged to the genus Vibrio, formed a distinct cluster with Vibriocincinnatiensis ATCC 35912T and shared the highest similarity with Vibriosalilacus CGMCC 1.12427T. A 15 bp insertion found in the 16S rRNA gene was a significant marker that distinguished strain FJ201301T from several phylogenetic neighbours (e.g. V. cincinnatiensis). Multilocus sequence analysis of eight genes (ftsZ, gapA, gyrB, mreB, pyrH, recA, rpoA and topA; concatenated 4135 bp sequence) showed that, forming a long and independent phylogenetic branch, strain FJ201301T clustered with V. cincinnatiensis ATCC 35912T, Vibrioinjenensis KCTC 32233T and Vibriometschnikovii CIP 69.14T clearly separated from V. salilacus CGMCC 1.12427T. Furthermore, the highest in silico DNA-DNA hybridization and average nucleotide identity values between strain FJ201301T and the closest related species were 26.3 and 83.1 % with V. cincinnatiensis ATCC 35912T, less than the proposed cutoff levels for species delineation, i.e. 70 and 95 %, respectively. Biochemical, sequence and genomic analysis suggested the designation of strain FJ201301T representing a novel species of the genus Vibrio, for which the name Vibrio fujianensis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is FJ201301T (=DSM 104687T=CGMCC 1.16099T).
Keywords: 16S rRNA gene; Vibrio; in silico DDH; multilocus sequence analysis.