Vibrio agarivorans sp nov., a novel agarolytic marine bacterium

It is proposed that the new Vibrio species Vibrio agarivorans accommodates two agarolytic, halophilic, fermentative bacterial strains isolated from Me diterranean sea water. The cells were Gram-negative, oxidase-positive, pola rly flagellated bacilli that fermented glucose without gas production and t hat produced no decarboxylases. They used a wide range of compounds as sole carbon and energy sources. The DNA G+C content was 44.8 mol%. Phylogenetic analysis based on complete 16S and 23S rDNA sequences revealed that the st rains belong to the gamma -Proteobacteria, and are specifically related to Vibrio species. Their nearest relatives were species of the Vibrio fischeri group, sharing 16S rDNA sequence similarities below 97% with the agarolyti c strains. The type strain is 289(T) (= CECT 5085(T) = DSM 13756(T)).