Lishizhenia caseinilytica gen. nov., sp nov., a marine bacterium of the phylum Bacteroidetes

A light-orange, aerobic bacterium, strain UST040201-001T, that degrades casein, gelatin and Tween 20, was isolated in February 2004 from a sand-filtered seawater sample from Port Shelter, Hong Kong SAR, China. The strain possessed menaquinone-6 and its 16S rRNA gene sequence shared only 90.1 % similarity with that of Brumimicrobium glaciale IC156T. Phylogenetic analysis showed that UST040201-001T formed a distinct lineage within the family Cryomorphaceae. Its ecophysiological and biochemical characteristics suggest that this strain represents a novel genus and species within the phylum Bacteroidetes. The name Lishizhenia caseinilytica gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain of Lishizhenia caseinilytica is UST040201-001T (=NRRL B-41434T=JCM 13821T).