Stenothermobacter spongiae gen. nov., sp. nov., a novel member of the family Flavobacteriaceae isolated from a marine sponge in the Bahamas, and emended description of Nonlabens tegetincola

A bacterial strain, UST030701-156^T, was isolated from a marine sponge in the Bahamas. Strain UST030701-156^T was orange-pigmented, Gram-negative, rod-shaped with tapered ends, slowly motile by gliding and strictly aerobic. The predominant fatty acids were a15:0, i15:0, i15:0 3-OH, i17:0 3-OH, i17:1ω9c and summed feature 3, comprising i15:0 2-OH and/or 16:1ω7c. MK-6 was the only respiratory quinone. Flexirubin-type pigments were not produced. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences placed UST030701-156^T within a distinct lineage in the family Flavobacteriaceae, with 93.3% sequence similarity to the nearest neighbour, Nonlabens tegetincola. The DNA G + C content of UST030701-156^T was 41.0 mol% and was much higher than that of N. tegetincola (33.6 mol%). Strain UST030701-156^T can be distinguished from other members of the Flavobacteriaceae by means of a number of chemotaxonomic and phenotypic characteristics. It is proposed, therefore, that UST030701-156^T represents a novel taxon designated Stenothermobacter spongiae gen. nov., sp. nov. The type strain is UST030701-156^T (= NRRL B-41138^T = JCM 13191^T). Carbon-source utilization by N. tegetincola was re-examined and an emended description is therefore included.