TRANSFER OF PSEUDOMONAS-NAUTICA TO MARINOBACTER-HYDROCARBONOCLASTICUS

A combination of genotypic and phenotypic properties (a polyphasic tax onomic approach) was used to determine the relatedness between the typ e strains of Pseudomonas nautica Bauman et al. 1982 and Marinobacter h ydrocarbonoclasticus Gauthier ef al. 1992, which were originally found to be highly related by partial 16S rDNA sequence analysis. Analysis of genotypic properties, such as comparison of the almost complete 16S rDNA sequences. base composition of the total genomic DNA and DNA-DNA hybridization revealed that the two strains were highly similar and s hould be considered members of the same species. The phenotypic proper ties, such as the physiology and chemotaxonomic data (i.e. fatty acid composition, polar lipid patterns and respiratory lipoquinone content) , confirmed the genotypic evaluation, and has lead to the proposal for a unification of the two species, Pseudomonas nautica (DSM 50418(T)) and Marinobacter hydrocarbonoclasticus (DSM 8798(T)) as Marinobacter h ydrocarbonoclasticus.