Ponticaulis profundi sp. nov. isolated from a deep-sea seamount

A Gram-stain negative, rod-shaped, strictly aerobic, motile bacterial strain, designated YC239T, was isolated from a seamount near the Yap Trench in the tropical western Pacific. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequence showed that strain YC239T is related to the genus Ponticaulis and has high 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity with the type strain of Ponticaulis koreensis GSW-23T (97.9%). The predominant cellular fatty acids were C18:1ω7c, C16:0, C17:0 and C17:1ω6c. Strain YC239T had Q-10 as the predominant ubiquinone. The polar lipid profile contained phosphatidylglycerol, two unidentified aminolipids and six unidentified polar lipids. The genomic DNA G+C content of strain YC239T was 52.8 mol%. Strain YC239T shared DNA relatedness of 38% with Ponticaulis koreensis KCTC 22146T. On the basis of the evidence presented in this study, strain YC239T represents a novel species of the genus Ponticaulis, for which we propose the name Ponticaulis profundi sp. nov. (type strain YC239T = KACC 19027T = CGMCC 1.15741T).