Mesonia phycicola sp. nov., isolated from seaweed, and emended description of the genus Mesonia.

An aerobic, Gram-reaction-negative, non-motile, catalase- and oxidase-positive bacterium, designated strain MDSW-25T, was isolated from seaweed collected in the vicinity of Mara Island in Jeju province, Republic of Korea. Colonies were smooth, circular and convex with entire edges and yellow in colour. Growth occurred at 10–30 °C, at pH 6.1–9.1 and in the presence of 1–12 % (w/v) NaCl. The major fatty acids were iso-C15 : 0 (25.6 %) and iso-C15 : 1 G (11.3 %), and the major menaquinone was MK-6. The DNA G+C content was 30.0 mol%. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequence showed that strain MDSW-25T belonged to the genus Mesonia, family Flavobacteriaceae. Sequence similarity with Mesonia mobilis and Mesonia algae was 97.5 and 95.4 %, respectively, but DNA relatedness between strain MDSW-25T and M. mobilis KCTC 12708T was only 47 %. A battery of phenotypic data, phylogenetic inference and DNA–DNA hybridization analyses supports the conclusion that strain MDSW-25T (=KCTC 22373T =DSM 21425T) represents a novel species of the genus Mesonia, for which the name Mesonia phycicola sp. nov. is proposed. On the basis of new data obtained in this study, an emended description of the genus Mesonia is also proposed.