Vibrio Echinoideorum Sp. Nov., Isolated from an Epidermal Lesion on the Test of a Green Sea Urchin (Strongylocentrotus Droebachiensis)

A Gram-stain-negative, facultatively anaerobic Vibrio strain, designated NFH.MB010, was isolated from an epidermal lesion on the test (hard shell skeleton) of a green sea urchin (Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis) collected from northern Norway. Cells of strain NFH.MB010 were rod shaped and motile by means of a single, long polar flagellum. Growth was observed at 1-5% NaCl (w/v) and at 4 °C, but not above 28 °C. Phylogenetic analyses based on eight-gene multilocus sequence analysis (16S rRNA, atpA, gyrB, mreB, pyrH, recA, rpoA and rpoD) suggested novelty at the species level. In silico DNA-DNA hybridization and orthologous average nucleotide identity estimates showed percentage genomic resemblances to its closest relative, Vibrio splendidus, that were well below the established same species threshold values. Phenotypically, utilization of glycogen and gentiobiose, inability of acetoin production, and undetectable valine arylamidase and trypsin activity discriminated strain NFH.MB010 from the closely related reference strains. Protein spectra generated by maldi-tof mass spectrometry further consolidated the species level uniqueness of strain NFH.MB010. Based on the described polyphasic approach, strain NFH.MB010 therefore appears as a novel species within the Splendidus clade of the genus Vibrio, and the name Vibrio echinoideorum sp. nov. is proposed, with NFH.MB010 (=DSM 107264=LMG 30656) as the type strain.