Winogradskyella aurantia sp. nov., isolated from a marine solar saltern.

A Gram-stain negative, non-flagellated, facultatively anaerobic, slightly halophilic bacterium, WNB302T, was isolated from a marine solar saltern in Wendeng, China (122°0'38.85″E, 36°57'56.49″N). Cells of strain WNB302T were 0.2-0.7 µm wide and 2.0-10.0 µm long, catalase- positive and oxidase-negative. Colonies were opaque, orange and approximately 1.0-2.0 mm in diameter after culture for 96 h on marine agar 2216. Growth occurs at 15-37 °C (optimum, 33-35 °C), pH 6.0-8.5 (optimum, pH 7.0-7.5), and with 0.5-7% NaCl (optimum, 2-3% NaCl). Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain WNB302T belongs to the genus Winogradskyella and is closely related to Winogradskyella exilis KCTC 32356T. Strain WNB302T exhibited 96.2 and 96.0% 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities with W. exilis KCTC 32356T and W. litoriviva KCTC 23972T. Average nucleotide identity (ANI) value based on draft genomes between strain WNB302T and Winogradskyella thalassocola KCTC 12221T showed a relatedness of 81.1% (with 93.7% of 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity). The major respiratory quinone of strain WNB302T was found to be MK-6, and the dominant fatty acids were found to be iso-C15:0 and iso-C15:1 G. The major polar lipids of strain WNB302T were three unidentified lipids (L1, L2 and L3), one unidentified aminolipids (AL1) and phosphatidylethanolamine (PE). The genomic DNA G+C content was 37.0 mol%. On the basis of the data presented, strain WNB302T is considered to represent a novel species of the genus Winogradskyella, for which the name Winogradskyella aurantia sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is WNB302T (= KCTC 52614T = MCCC 1H00172T).