Ulvibacter antarcticus sp. nov., isolated from Antarctic coastal seawater.

A seawater bacterium, designated IMCC3101(T), was isolated from Antarctic coastal seawater. The strain was Gram-negative, chemoheterotrophic, obligately aerobic, pigmented dark yellow (flexirubin-type pigments) and devoid of gliding and flagellar motility. On the basis of 16S rRNA gene sequence comparisons, the most closely related species was Ulvibacter litoralis (96.6 %). Phylogenetic trees generated by using 16S rRNA gene sequences confirmed that the strain belonged to the genus Ulvibacter in the family Flavobacteriaceae. The DNA G+C content was 37.0 mol% and the major respiratory quinone was MK-6. Several phenotypic characteristics, including cell and colony morphology, the absence of gliding motility and the temperature range for growth, serve to differentiate the strain from the only species in the genus Ulvibacter with a validly published name (U. litoralis). Therefore, strain IMCC3101(T) represents a novel species of the genus Ulvibacter, for which the name Ulvibacter antarcticus sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is IMCC3101(T) (=KCCM 42686(T)=NBRC 102682(T)).