title: Halomonas titanicae sp. nov., a halophilic bacterium isolated from the RMS Titanic.
abstract: A Gram-negative, heterotrophic, aerobic, non-endospore-forming, peritrichously flagellated and motile bacterial strain, designated BH1(T), was isolated from samples of rusticles, which are formed in part by a consortium of micro-organisms, collected from the RMS Titanic wreck site. The strain grew optimally at 30-37°C, pH 7.0-7.5 and in the presence of 2-8 % (w/v) NaCl. We carried out a polyphasic taxonomic study in order to characterize the strain in detail. Phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rRNA gene sequence comparison indicated that strain BH1(T) clustered within the branch consisting of species of Halomonas. The most closely related type strains were Halomonas neptunia (98.6 % 16S rRNA sequence similarity), Halomonas variabilis (98.4 %), Halomonas boliviensis (98.3 %) and Halomonas sulfidaeris (97.5 %). Other closely related species were Halomonas alkaliphila (96.5 % sequence similarity), Halomonas hydrothermalis (96.3 %), Halomonas gomseomensis (96.3 %), Halomonas venusta (96.3 %) and Halomonas meridiana (96.2 %). The major fatty acids of strain BH1(T) were C(18 : 1)ω7c (36.3 %), C(16 : 0) (18.4 %) and C(19 : 0) cyclo ω8c (17.9 %). The DNA G+C content was 60.0&emsp14;mol% (T(m)). Ubiquinone 9 (Q-9) was the major lipoquinone. The phenotypic features, fatty acid profile and DNA G+C content further supported the placement of strain BH1(T) in the genus Halomonas. DNA-DNA hybridization values between strain BH1(T) and H. neptunia CECT 5815(T), H. variabilis DSM 3051(T), H. boliviensis DSM 15516(T) and H. sulfidaeris CECT 5817(T) were 19, 17, 30 and 29 %, respectively, supporting the differential taxonomic status of BH1(T). On the basis of the phenotypic, chemotaxonomic and phylogenetic data, strain BH1(T) is considered to represent a novel species, for which the name Halomonas titanicae sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is BH1(T) (=ATCC BAA-1257(T) =CECT 7585(T) =JCM 16411(T) =LMG 25388(T)).
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Parasitology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Sevilla, 41012 Sevilla, Spain.
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sánchez-Porro
authors.affiliation: Department of Education, Ontario Science Centre, Toronto, ON M3C 1T3, Canada.
authors.forename: Bhavleen
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kaur
authors.affiliation: Department of Civil Engineering, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS B3J 2X4, Canada.
authors.forename: Henrietta
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mann
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Parasitology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Sevilla, 41012 Sevilla, Spain.
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ventosa
mesh_terms: D001267:Atlantic Ocean; D015373:Bacterial Typing Techniques; D001482:Base Composition; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D005227:Fatty Acids / Q000737:chemistry; D020632:Halomonas / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009693:Nucleic Acid Hybridization; D010802:Phylogeny; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D012767:Ships; D014451:Ubiquinone / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D005227:Fatty Acids; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; D014451:Ubiquinone; C030571:ubiquinone 9