A polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons-degrading and acylhomoserine-lactone-producing marine bacterium, designated strain PQ-2T, was isolated from marine biofilm collected from a boat shell at a harbour of Zhoushan island in Zhejiang Province, PR China. Strain PQ-2T is Gram-stain-negative, yellow-pigmented, non-motile and short rod-shaped. Optimal growth of strain PQ-2T was observed at 32 °C, at pH 7.0 and in 2 % (w/v) NaCl. The 16S rRNA gene sequence of strain PQ-2T showed highest similarity to
Croceicoccus marinus
E4A9T (96.3 %) followed by
Novosphingobium malaysiense
MUSC 273T (95.6 %) and
Altererythrobacter marinus
H32T (95.6 %). Phylogenetic analysis with all species of the family
Erythrobacteraceae
with validly published names revealed that strain PQ-2T formed a phyletic line with
Croceicoccus marinus
E4A9T that was distinct from other members of the family
Erythrobacteraceae
. The sole respiratory quinone was ubiquinone 10 (Q-10). The predominant fatty acids were C18 : 1ω7c, C17 : 1ω6c and summed feature 3 (C16 : 1ω7c and/or iso-C15 : 0 2-OH). The genomic DNA G+C content was 61.7 mol%. In the polar lipid profile, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylglycerol, one unidentified phospholipid and one sphingoglycolipid were the major compounds; and another sphingoglycolipid was present in a minor amount. Based on the genotypic and phenotypic data, strain PQ-2T represents a novel species of the genus
Croceicoccus
, for which the name Croceicoccus
naphthovorans sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is PQ-2T ( = CGMCC 1.12805T = NBRC 110381T). In addition, emended descriptions for the genus
Croceicoccus
and the species
C. marinus
are given.
Some topological indices of the family of nanostructures of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)