Nisaea (genus)

Like all Proteobacteria the two species stain Gram-negative.(,[3]cf.[4]) They were isolated from coastal, surface waters of the north-western Mediterranean Sea, specifically on February 2004 at the SOLA station located in the bay of Banyuls-sur-Mer (42 2.99 N 3 0.89 E) at a depth of 3 metres.[3] The cells are motile pleomorphic rods that are 2.9 μm long and 0.9 μm wide.[3] When grown on marine agar medium, they form cream colonies (i.e. no pigmentation). Apart from standard genetic differences for species (98% 16S, 55% DNA-DNA), the two species differ in that Nisaea denitrificans can fully denitrify whereas Nisaea nitritireducens cannot only reduce nitrite.[3]

The name Nisaea derives from:
Latin feminine gender noun Nisaea, nymph of the sea, referring to the marine origin (Mediterranean sea).[3] Nicaea is in fact a sea nymph and daughter of the river-god Sangarius and Cybele. Whereas the specific epithets, refer to:

• denitrificans: New Latin participle adjective denitrificans (from New Latin v. denitrifico), denitrifying.[3]
• nitritireducens: New Latin noun nitris -itis, nitrite; Latin participle adjective reducens, leading back, bringing back and (in chemistry) converting to a different oxidation state; New Latin participle adjective nitritireducens, reducing nitrite.[3]

• Bacterial taxonomy
• Microbiology