A Gram-stain-negative, aerobic, rod-shaped, carotenoid-pigmented, motile-by-gliding bacterium, which was designated as SSH13T, was isolated from a surface seawater sample collected from Sehwa Beach in the Republic of Korea. Strain SSH13T was oxidase-negative, catalase-positive and grew at 2-37 °C (optimum, 30 °C), in the presence of 0.5-6% NaCl and within a pH range of pH 6-10 (optimum, pH 8). The novel isolate required NaCl for growth and grew optimally with approximately 2 % NaCl. Chemotaxonomic and morphological characteristics were consistent with members of the genus Lewinella. Furthermore, phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequencing revealed that strain SSH13T was most closely related to the type strains of the genus Lewinella. Strain SSH13T had highest 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities to Lewinella persica DSM 23188T (95.3 %) and Lewinella agarilytica KCTC 12774T (95.0 %). The major fatty acids of SSH13T were summed feature 3 (C16 : 1 ω7c and/or C16 : 1 ω6c) and iso-C15 : 0. Strain SSH13T contained phosphatidylethanolamine as a major polar lipid. Menaquinone-7 was the predominant respiratory quinone. The average nucleotide identity values between strain SSH13T and L. persica T-3T and L. agarilytica SST-19T were 72.9 and 72.6 %, respectively. The DNA G+C content of the genomic DNA was 52.8 mol%. The present study aimed to determine the multiple-antibiotic resistance ofthe novel bacterium. Based on phylogenetic and phenotypic analyses, strain SSH13T is considered to represent a novel species of the genus Lewinella, for which the name Lewinella aurantiaca sp. nov. (type strain SSH13T=KACC 21167T=NBRC 113866T) is proposed.
Keywords: AAI; Lewinella; carotenoid pigments; marine bacterium.