Description of Sulfitobacter gelatinilyticus sp. nov. and Sulfitobacter weihaiensis sp. nov., isolated from marine sediment.

Two Gram-stain-negative, yellowish-white, facultative anaerobic and rod-shaped bacterial strains, designated F26169LT and F26204T, were isolated from coastal sediment of Jingzi Port, Weihai. Based on phenotypic, physiological, biochemical, chemotaxonomic and phylogenomic analyses, the two strains were affiliated with the genus Sulfitobacter. They showed obvious differences in phenotypic, chemotaxonomic and genomic characteristics compared with closely related taxa in this genus, and the ANI, AAI and dDDH values between them and related species were all lower than the standard thresholds for bacterial species delineation. Genomic analysis revealed the presence of genes encoding a complete sulfur oxidation (SOX) pathway and dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) lyases in both strains. Accordingly, strains F26169LT and F26204T are proposed as two novel species of the genus Sulfitobacter, for which the names Sulfitobacter gelatinilyticus sp. nov. and Sulfitobacter weihaiensis sp. nov., are proposed, respectively. The type strains are F26169LT (= KCTC 92635 T = MCCC 1H01356T) and F26204T (= KCTC 92634 T = MCCC 1H01357T).