A Gram-stain-negative, motile, rod-shaped bacterium, designated SW127T, was isolated from a seawater sample collected from the Indian Ocean. Strain SW127T was aerobic, catalase- and oxidase-positive, and grew at 8-42 °C (optimum, 30 °C), at pH 5.5-9.0 (optimum, pH 7.5) and in the presence of 0.5-11.0 % (w/v) NaCl (optimum, 3.0-4.0 %). Comparative analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that strain SW127T belonged to the genus Alcanivorax, and closely related to Alcanivorax pacificus MCCC 1A00474T (96.7 % sequence similarity). The predominant cellular fatty acids of strain SW127T were C16 : 0 and summed feature 8 (comprising C18 : 1ω7c and/or C18 : 1ω6c). Strain SW127T contained phosphatidylethanolamine and phosphatidylglycerol as the major polar lipids. The genomic DNA G+C content of strain SW127T was 62.8 mol%. On the basis of its phenotypic characteristics and phylogenetic data, strain SW127T represents a novel species of the genus Alcanivorax, for which the name Alcanivorax indicus sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is SW127T (=CGMCC 1.16233T=KCTC 62652T).
Keywords: Alcanivorax indicus; phylogenetic analysis; seawater.