Reclassification of [Cytophaga] marinoflava Relchenbach 1989 as Leeuwenhoekiella marinoflava gen. nov., comb. nov and description of Leeuwenhoekiella aequorea sp nov.

Five heterotrophic, aerobic, halotolerant and pigmented bacterial strains with gliding motility were isolated from Antarctic sea water; one other isolate was collected from the sea urchin Strongylocentrotus intermedius in the Gulf of Peter the Great in the Sea of Japan. 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis indicated that the strains are members of the family Flavobacteriaceae, the nearest neighbour (with 97-1% sequence similarity) being the misclassified species [Cytophaga] marinoflava. DNA-DNA hybridization experiments and chemotaxonomic and phenotypic analyses demonstrated that the six novel isolates represent a single species distinct from [C.] marinoflava. On the basis of its separate phylogenetic lineage (the nearest neighbours show 92% sequence similarity), [C.] marinoflava is reclassified as Leeuwenhoekiella marinoflava gen, nov., comb. nov. A second species of this new genus, Leeuwenhoekiella aequorea sp. nov., is proposed for the six novel isolates, with strain LMG 22550(T) (=CCUG 50091(T)) as the type strain.