Rhodococcus Electrodiphilus Sp. Nov., a Marine Electro Active Actinobacterium Isolated from Coral Reef

An electrogenic bacterium was isolated from a marine coral, designated as strain JC435 and its taxonomic status examined by using a polyphasic approach. Results from the 16S rRNA gene sequence study showed that the isolate belonged to the genus Rhodococcus and formed a cluster with Rhodococcus ruber KCTC 9806 (99.5 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity) and Rhodococcus aetherivorans JCM 14343 (99.3 %), respectively. Genome relatedness based on DNA-DNA hybridization to the type strains of closest-related species was less than 30 % and the ΔTm of >7 °C, suggesting that strain represents a new species of the genus Rhodococcus. The major fatty acids were C16 : 0, C18 : 1ω9c, C18 : 010-methyl and C16 : 1ω6c and/or C16 : 1ω7c. The polar lipids of strain JC435 were diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylinositol mannoside, phosphatidylinositol, three unknown phospholipids and an unknown amino lipid. The major isoprenoid quinone was MK-8(H2), with 8 % of MK-7(H2) and 2 % of MK-9(H2) as minor components. Whole-cell hydrolysates contained meso-diaminopimelic acid, arabinose and galactose as the diagnostic diamino acid and sugars. Mycolic acids were detected. The genomic DNA G+C content of strain JC435 was 69.8 mol%. On the basis of phylogenetic genotypic, physiological and chemotaxonomic analysis, strain JC435 is considered to represent a novel species of the genus Rhodococcus for which the name Rhodococcuselectrodiphilus sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is JC435 (=KCTC 39856=LMG 29881=MCC 3659).