A Gram-stain-negative, stalked, oval-shaped and budding bacterial strain, designated E7T, was isolated from a deep-sea water sample collected from the Northwest Indian Ocean. The novel strain was strictly aerobic, and catalase- and oxidase-positive. It grew at 6-40 °C (optimum 30 °C) and pH 5.5-8.0 (optimum pH 7.0-7.5). The strain required 0.5-9.0 % (w/v) NaCl (optimum 3.0-5.0 %) for growth. Aesculin, starch, pectin and Tween 20 were hydrolysed. Based on 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, strain E7T showed the highest similarity with Gimesia maris DSM 8797T (97.5 %). The average nucleotide identity and in silico DNA-DNA hybridization values between strain E7T and G. maris DSM 8797T were 78.0 and 19.3 %, respectively. The predominant cellular fatty acids of strain E7T were C16 : 0 and summed feature 3 (comprising C16 : 1ω7c and/or C16 : 1ω6c). The major respiratory quinone was menaquinone-6 (MK-6) and the major polar lipids were phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), phosphatidylmonomethylethanolamine (PMME), phosphatidyldimethylethanolamine (PDME), phosphatidylcholine (PC) and diphosphatidylglycerol (DPG). The genomic DNA G+C content of strain E7T was 52.8 mol%. On the basis of phylogenetic inference and phenotypic characteristics, it is proposed that strain E7T represents a novel species of the genus Gimesia, for which the name Gimesia benthica sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is E7T (=CGMCC 1.16119T=KCTC 72737T).
Keywords: Gimesia benthica; deep-sea water; phylogenetic analysis; planctomycetes.