Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequence
The almost complete 16S rRNA gene sequence of strain JHPTF-M18T determined in this study had a continuous stretch of 1448 nucleotides, corresponding to positions 28-1491 (95%) of the Escherichia coli 16S rRNA sequence. In the neighbour-joining phylogenetic tree based on 16S rRNA gene sequences, strain JHPTF-M18T fell within the clade comprising the type strains of Mesonia species, particularly joining the type strain of M. mobilis by a bootstrap resampling value of 64.9% (Fig. 1). Strain JHPTF-M18T shared the highest 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity value (97.7%) to M. mobilis KCTC 12708T. It also shared 92.9-96.8% 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities with the type strains of the other Mesonia species. These sequence similarities indicated that strain JHPTF-M18T might be a member of species different from recognized Mesonia species according to the values (97% or 98.7%) recommended for delineation of a bacterial species by Stackebrandt and Goebel (1994) and Kim et al. (2014).
Genomic features
The genome size of strain JHPTF-M18T obtained from the assembly of sequencing reads was 3,328,752 bp with a sequencing depth of coverage of 482.93X. The genomic sequence of strain JHPTF-M18T contained 73 contigs with N50 length of 192,421 bp. The complete 16S rRNA gene sequence extracted from the genomic data using ContEst16S (Lee et al. 2017) was found to be identical to respective 16S rRNA gene information previously obtained by Sanger sequencing. This indicated that strain JHPTF-M18T and its genomic data were not mislabeled and did not originate from any source of contamination (Chun et al. 2018). Based on its genomic sequence data, the DNA G+C content of strain JHPTF-M18T was 33.1%, a value in the range reported for Mesonia species (Lucena et al. 2020). The genome of strain JHPTF-M18T had 2,967 protein-coding genes, within the range reported for Mesonia mobilis DSM 19841T (2,897), Mesonia oceanica ISS653T (3,789), Mesonia phycicola DSM 21425T (2,939) and Mesonia algae DSM 15361T (2,828). The genomic sequence of strain JHPTF-M18T was shown to have 4 rRNA-encoding genes with one 5S, one 16S and two 23S rRNAs, whereas those of the type strains of M. mobilis, M. oceanica, M. phycicola and M. algae have rRNA-encoding genes of 6-10. The phylogenetic trees based on genomic sequences showed that strain JHPTF-M18T form a cluster with the type strain of Mesonia mobilis (Fig. S1). The genomic sequence data of strain JHPTF-M18T had ANI values of 79.7, 78.5, 78.0 and 73.1% to those of M. mobilis DSM 19841T, M. oceanica ISS653T, M. phycicola DSM 21425T and M. algae DSM 15361T, respectively. Strain JHPTF-M18T had dDDH values of 22.8, 21.5, 21.2 and 18.5% to M. mobilis DSM 19841T, M. oceanica ISS653T, M. phycicola DSM 21425T and M. algae DSM 15361T, respectively. The ANI and dDDH values of the genomic sequences between strain JHPTF-M18T and the type strains of the four Mesonia species were lower than the values (95-96 and 70%, respectively) recommended for delineation of a bacterial species (Goris et al. 2007; Konstantinidis and Tiedje 2005; Richter and Rosselló-Móra 2009).
Chemotaxonomic characteristics
The predominant isoprenoid quinone detected in strain JHPTF-M18T was menaquinone-6 (MK-6), at a peak area ratio of approximately 95%, consistent with the results shown in the genus Mesonia (Lucena et al. 2020; Nedashkovskaya et al. 2003). The major fatty acids (> 10% of the total fatty acids in all growth phases) found in strain JHPTF-M18T were iso-C15:0, iso-C17:0 3-OH and summed feature 3 (C16:1 ω7c and/or C16:1 ω6c) (Table S1). The fatty acid profiles of strain JHPTF-M18T were similar to those of the type strains of M. mobilis and M. algae in that iso-C15:0, iso-C17:0 3-OH are major fatty acids, even though there were differences in the proportions of some fatty acids, e.g. iso-C16:0, anteiso-C17:1 ω9c and summed feature 3 (C16:1 ω7c and/or C16:1 ω6c) (Table S1). The major polar lipids detected in stain JHPTF-M18T were phosphatidylethanolamine and two unidentified lipids; minor amounts of eight other unidentified lipids, two unidentified aminolipids and one unidentified aminophospholipid were also present (Fig. S2). The polar lipid profile of strain JHPTF-M18T was similar to that of the type strain of M. algae in that phosphatidylethanolamine is the only major phospholipid identified and one unidentified lipid is major component, but distinguished from that of the type strain of M. algae by the absence of one unidentified glycolipid as a major component (Fig. S2).
Morphological, cultural, physiological and biochemical characteristics
Strain JHPTF-M18T showed non-flagellated property and did not reduce nitrate, as inferred by the absence of genes involved in flagella biosynthesis and nitrate reduction retrieved from “NCBI Prokaryotic Genome Annotation Pipeline”. Strain JHPTF-M18T also showed catalase and oxidase activities which could be confirmed by the presence of relevant genes retrieved from “NCBI Prokaryotic Genome Annotation Pipeline”. Strain JHPTF-M18T could not hydrolyze casein and susceptible to tetracycline, whereas the type strains of M. mobilis and M. algae hydrolyzed casein and resistant to tetracycline (Table 1). Strain JHPTF-M18T was susceptible to carbenicillin (100 µg), chloramphenicol (100 µg), lincomycin (15 µg), oleandomycin (15 µg) and tetracycline (30 µg), but resistant to ampicillin (10 µg), cephalothin (30 µg), gentamicin (30 µg), kanamycin (30 µg), neomycin (30 µg), novobiocin (5 µg), penicillin G (20 IU), polymyxin B (100 IU) and streptomycin (50 µg). Phenotypic characteristics of strain JHPTF-M18T are given in the species description, Table 1 or Fig. S3.
Table 1
Differential characteristics of strain JHPTF-M18T and the type strains of Mesonia mobilis and Mesonia algae.
Characteristic
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
Hydrolysis of
|
|
|
|
Aesculin
|
+
|
+
|
–
|
Casein
|
–
|
+
|
+
|
Acid production form
|
|
|
|
D-Glucose
|
–
|
+
|
–
|
Maltose
|
–
|
+
|
–
|
D-Mannose
|
–
|
+
|
–
|
Susceptibility to
|
|
|
|
Ampicillin
|
–
|
w
|
+
|
Cephalothin
|
–
|
+
|
+
|
Tetracycline
|
+
|
–
|
–
|
Enzyme activity (API ZYM)
|
|
|
|
α-Glucosidase
|
–
|
+
|
–
|
β-Glucosidase
|
+
|
–
|
–
|
DNA G+C content (mol%)a
|
33.1
|
35.1
|
33.1
|
Strains: 1, JHPTF-M18T; 2, M. mobilis KCTC 12708T; 3, M. algae KCTC 12089T. Data of column 1 obtained from this study and data of columns 2 and 3 obtained from Lee et al. [6]. +, positive reaction; –, negative reaction; w, weakly positive reaction. All strains are rod-shaped and positive for activity of catalase and oxidase; hydrolysis of gelatin and Tween 80; susceptibility to carbenicillin, chloramphenicol, lincomycin and oleandomycin; and activity of alkaline phosphatase, esterase (C4), esterase lipase (C8), leucine arylamidase, valine arylamidase, cystine arylamidase, acid phosphatase and naphtol-AS-BI-phosphohydrolase. All strains are negative for Gram-staining; production of flexirubin-type pigments; nitrate reduction; hydrolysis of hypoxanthine, xanthine, starch and urea; acid production from L-arabinose, D-cellobiose, D-fructose, D-galactose, lactose, D-melezitose, melibiose, D-raffinose L-rhamnose, D-ribose, sucrose, D-trehalose, D-xylose, myo-inositol, D-mannitol and D-sorbitol; susceptibility to gentamicin, kanamycin, neomycin, novobiocin, penicillin G, polymyxin B and streptomycin; and activity of lipase (C14), trypsin, α-chymotrypsin, α-galactosidase, β-galactosidase, β-glucuronidase, N-acetyl-β-glucosaminidase, α-mannosidase and α-fucosidase. |
aData obtained from genomic sequences. |