*Brief Report* **Are the Closely Related** *Cobetia* **Strains of Different Species?**

**Yulia Noskova 1, Aleksandra Seitkalieva 1, Olga Nedashkovskaya 1, Liudmila Shevchenko 1, Liudmila Tekutyeva 2, Oksana Son <sup>2</sup> and Larissa Balabanova 1,2,\***


**Abstract:** Marine bacteria of the genus *Cobetia,* which are promising sources of unique enzymes and secondary metabolites, were found to be complicatedly identified both by phenotypic indicators due to their ecophysiology diversity and 16S rRNA sequences because of their high homology. Therefore, searching for the additional methods for the species identification of *Cobetia* isolates is significant. The species-specific coding sequences for the enzymes of each functional category and different structural families were applied as additional molecular markers. The 13 closely related *Cobetia* isolates, collected in the Pacific Ocean from various habitats, were differentiated by the species-specific PCR patterns. An alkaline phosphatase PhoA seems to be a highly specific marker for *C. amphilecti.* However, the issue of *C. amphilecti* and *C. litoralis*, as well as *C. marina* and *C. pacifica,* belonging to the same or different species remains open.

**Keywords:** *Cobetia amphilecti*; *Cobetia litoralis*; *Cobetia pacifica*; *Cobetia marina*; *Cobetia crustatorum*; identification markers; alkaline phosphatase PhoA
