Corynebacterium maris sp. nov., a marine bacterium isolated from the mucus of the coral Fungia granulosa

A bacterial strain, designated Coryn-1^T, was isolated from mucus of the coral Fungia granulosa (northern Red Sea, Gulf of Eilat, Israel) by growth and enrichment of micro-organisms in agar spheres and subsequent plating. The bacterium was found to be a Gram-positive, non-motile, halotolerant, heterotrophic coccobacillus. Comparative 16S rRNA gene sequence analyses showed that strain Coryn-1^T belonged to the genus Corynebacterium, exhibiting the highest levels of similarity (94 %) with the 16S rRNA gene sequence of Corynebacterium halotolerans YIM 70093^T. The novel strain grew well at 0.5-4.0% salinity, at pH 7.2-9.0 and at 30-37 °C. The major cellular fatty acids were oleic acid (C_18:1ω9c; 58 %), palmitic acid (C_16:0; 30%) and tuberculostearic acid (10-methyl-C_18:0; 12 %). The DNA G+C content was 66.6 mol%. On the basis of its phenotypic properties and phylogenetic distinctiveness, strain Coryn-1^T represents a novel species, for which the name Corynebacterium maris sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is Coryn-1^T (=DSM 45190^T=LMG 24561^T).