Corynebacterium marinum sp. nov. isolated from coastal sediment

A taxonomic study was performed on strain D7015^T, which was isolated from coastal sediment close to a coal-fired power station in Qingdao, China. Cells of strain D7015^T were Gram-positive, non-motile, diphtheroid rods that grew in the presence of 0-8% (w/v) NaCl and at 4-37 °C, with optimum growth at 1% (w/v) NaCl and 30-32 °C. The DNA G+C content was 65.0 mol%. The major fatty acids were C_18:1?9c (56.18 %), C_16:0 (38.02 %), C_16:1?7c (4.45 %), C_18:0 (1.0 %) and C_14:0 (0.35 %). On the basis of morphological, physiological and phylogenetic characteristics, strain D7015 ^T was classified in the genus Corynebacterium. It exhibited a 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity of 95.9% and a DNA-DNA relatedness value of 20.4% with Corynebacterium halotolerans DSM 44683^T. Strain D7015 ^T was sufficiently different from recognized species of the genus Corynebacterium to be considered to represent a novel species. The name Corynebacterium marinum sp. nov. is proposed, with strain D7015^T (=CGMCC 1.6998^T=NRRL B-24779^T) as the type strain.