Phylogenetic characterization of marine bacterium strain 2-40, a degrader of complex polysaccharides.

The marine bacterium strain 2-40 was isolated from the salt marsh cord grass, Spartina alterniflora, in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, VA, USA. It is Gram-negative, requires sea salts and is a strict aerobe. It degrades numerous complex polysaccharides and synthesizes eumelanin. By 16S rDNA analysis, the isolate was shown to be a member of the gamma-subclass of the Proteobacteria, related to Microbulbifer hydrolyticus and to a cellulolytic nitrogen-fixing bacterium.