The genus Dokdonia was first described in 2005 by Yoon et al. near Liancourt Rocks in the Sea of Japan.[4]Dokdonia is named after Dokdo, the Korean name for the Liancourt Rocks which sovereignty is disputed between Japan and South Korea.[5] Yoon et al. isolated the bacterium from seawater and identified the first species as Dokdonia donghaensis.[6]
There are 10 classified species (D. aurantiaca, D. diaphoros, D. donghaensis, D. eikasta, D. flava, D. genika, D. lutea, D. pacifica, D. ponticola, and D. sinensis) and many unclassified strains under the Dokdonia genus based on the NCBI taxonomy database.[7] The International Committee on Systematics of Prokaryotes (ICSP) currently recognizes nine groups of Dokdonia described to species level with D. ponticola considered not validly published.[8]
The general characteristics of Dokdonia species include gram-negative, non-motile, aerobic, catalase- and oxidase-positive, non-spore-forming rods or elongated rods. Species are usually considered relatively halophilic as they are cultivated optimally with 2% w/v sea salts (NaCl).[4][9]
^Parker CT, Garrity GM (2012). Parker CT, Garrity GM (eds.). "Nomenclature Abstract for Dokdonia Yoon et al. 2005 emend. Yoon et al. 2012". The NamesforLife Abstracts. doi:10.1601/nm.9754 (inactive 2024-04-17).{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of April 2024 (link)