Salsuginibacillus kocurii gen. nov., sp. nov., a moderately halophilic bacterium from soda-lake sediment

Abstract

A Gram-positive, endospore-forming, alkali-tolerant, moderately halophilic bacterium, designated strain CH9dT, was isolated from the sediment of Lake Chagannor in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China. The cells were rod-shaped and motile. Isolate CH9dT grew at pH 5.8–10.0 (optimally at pH 8.5), at salinities of 3–20 % (w/v) marine salts (optimally at 10.0 %, w/v) and between 20 and 50 °C (optimally at 37 °C). The cell wall contained meso-diaminopimelic acid and the major respiratory isoprenoid quinone was MK-7. The predominant cellular fatty acids of strain CH9dT were anteiso-C15 : 0, anteiso-C17 : 0, iso-C17 : 0 and iso-C15 : 0 and its polar lipids consisted of diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine and two unknown phospholipids. The G+C content of the DNA was 44.7 mol%. Strain CH9dT exhibited a 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity value of only 91 % with respect to Thalassobacillus devorans DSM 16966T and showed values below 91 % with respect to members of the genera Bacillus, Halobacillus and Marinococcus. Strain CH9dT could be clearly differentiated from its closest phylogenetic neighbours on the basis of several phenotypic, genotypic and chemotaxonomic features. Therefore, data from the polyphasic study support the placement of strain CH9dT in a novel genus and species, for which the name Salsuginibacillus kocurii gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is CH9dT (=CCM 7365T=CECT 7154T=CGMCC 1.6287T=DSM 18087T).