Ornithinibacillus scapharcae sp. nov., isolated from a dead ark clam

A novel Gram-positive, aerobic, motile, hemolytic, endospore-forming and rod-shaped bacterium TW25^T was isolated from a dead ark clam during a mass mortality event on the South coast of Korea. The strain grew optimally at 30°C, at pH 8–9, and with 1% (w/v) NaCl. The 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis indicated that strain TW25^T was associated with the genus Ornithinibacillus and that it was most closely related to the type strain of Ornithinibacillus californiensis (98.5% similarity). The dominant cellular fatty acids were iso-C15:0, anteiso-C15:0 and C16:0. The peptidoglycan amino acid type was A4β, containing l-ornithine and d-aspartic acid. The polar lipids were diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, four unidentified phospholipids, two unidentified aminolipids and two unidentified lipids. The major respiratory quinone was menaquinone-7 (MK-7). The G + C content of genomic DNA was 36.7 mol%. DNA–DNA hybridization experiments with related strains revealed lower than 11 ± 3% relatedness. Based on this polyphasic taxonomic study, strain TW25^T represents a novel species in the genus Ornithinibacillus, for which the name Ornithinibacillus scapharcae sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is TW25^T (=KACC 15116^T = JCM 17314^T).