Kocuria sediminis sp. nov., isolated from a marine sediment sample

A Gram-positive, pinkish-orange pigmented, coccoid strain, FCS-11T was isolated from a marine sediment sample taken from Kochi fort area, Kerala, India and subjected to polyphasic taxonomic study. The 16S rRNA gene sequence of the strain was determined and the results of 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis showed that the strain FCS-11T should be assigned to the genus Kocuria. The chemotaxonomic data supported this taxonomic placement i.e. menaquinones MK-7(H2), MK-8(H2) and MK-9(H2); major fatty acids anteiso C15:0 and iso-C15:0 and phosphatidylglycerol (PG) and diphosphatidylglycerol (DPG) as major polar lipids. Further phylogenetic analysis of the 16S rRNA gene sequence confirmed that the strain FCS-11T belonged to the genus Kocuria and is closely related to Kocuria turfanensis MTCC 10790T (99.4%) followed by Kocuria polaris MTCC 3702T (98.2%), Kocuria rosea MTCC 2522T (98.2%), Kocuria flava MTCC 10971T (98.2%), Kocuria aegyptia MTCC 10791T (98.0%), Kocuria himachalensis MTCC 7020T (97.5%) and Kocuria atrinae MTCC 10972T (97.1%). However, the DNA–DNA hybridisation values obtained between strain FCS-11T and other related strains were well below the threshold that is required for the proposal of a novel species. The G+C content of the genomic DNA was 60.7 mol%. The phenotypic and genotypic data showed that the strain FCS-11T merits the recognition as a representative of a novel species of the genus Kocuria. It is proposed that the isolate should be classified in the genus Kocuria as a novel species, Kocuria sediminis sp. nov. The type strain is FCS-11T (= MTCC 10969T = JCM 17929T).