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  • sp. nov., a methanogen isolated from potential methane hydrate bearing area offshore southwestern Taiwan. Lee, Kuan-Yi Lai, Mei-Chin Lin, Saulwood Lai, Shu-Jung Zhang, Wei-Ling Chen, Wen-Chieh You, Yi-Ting Wu, Sue-Yao Hung, Chuan-Chuan Ding, Jiun-Yan Zhou, Yang-Zhi Shih, Chao-Jen Wu, Yen-Chi Zhao, Jingjing Li, Yin Xiao, Wangchuan Wu, Chih-Hung Zhang, Hangying Dong, Guowen Qiu, Wanling Wang, Song Chen, Sheng-Chung Phylogeny RNA, Ribosomal, 16S Methane Base Composition Taiwan Bacterial Typing Techniques Sequence Analysis, DNA Methanobacterium Geologic Sediments Fatty Acids DNA, Bacterial A novel mesophilic, hydrogenotrophic methanogen, strain CWC-01, was isolated from the sediment sample of the piston core collected at station 3 at Good Weather Ridge area offshore southwestern Taiwan from ORI-902A cruise in 2009. Cells of strain CWC-01 are rod-shaped, measuring 0.4-0.5 µm in width and 1.0-2.0 µm in length. Strain CWC-01 utilizes formate and H/CO to produce methane, but not secondary alcohol, methanol, ethanol, methylamines or acetate as catabolic substrates. The optimal growth conditions are 37 °C, 0.043 M NaCl and pH 6.3. Growth effectors tests indicate tryptone, but not acetate and yeast extract, could stimulate the growth of strain CWC-01. Phylogenetic analysis of 16S rRNA gene reveals that strain CWC-01 is most closely related to Mic5c12, with 96.63% identity. Genome size of strain CWC-01 is 1.98 Mb and it is the smallest genome size of genus. The genomic DNA G+C content obtained from the genome sequence of strain CWC-01 is 44.15 mol%. Based on these phenotypic, phylogenetic and genomic analyses, we propose that strain CWC-01 represents a novel species in genus , for which the name sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is CWC-01 (=BCRC AR10053=NBRC 113991).