Salirhabdus euzebyi gen. nov., sp. nov., a Gram-positive, halotolerant bacterium isolated from a sea salt evaporation pond

Abstract

A low-G+C, Gram-positive bacterium, designated CVS-14T, was recovered from a sea salt evaporation pond on the island of Sal in the Cape Verde Archipelago. This organism was catalase- and oxidase-positive. Cells were motile, spore-forming aerobic rods, with an optimum growth temperature of about 35–40 °C and optimum pH between 7.0 and 8.5. Optimal growth occurred in media containing 4–6 % (w/v) NaCl, although the organism was able to grow in medium without added NaCl and in medium containing 16 % NaCl. The cell-wall peptidoglycan was of A1γ type and the major respiratory quinone was menaquinone 7 (MK-7). Major fatty acids were iso-15 : 0, anteiso-15 : 0, iso-17 : 0 and anteiso-17 : 0. The DNA G+C content was 37.0 mol%. Phylogenetic analysis of the 16S rRNA gene sequence indicated that strain CVS-14T formed a distinct new branch within the radiation of the moderately halophilic bacilli group, forming a separate lineage from species of the genera Salinibacillus, Paucisalibacillus, Oceanobacillus, Lentibacillus and Virgibacillus. Strain CVS-14T showed 16S rRNA gene pairwise similarity values of ~95 % with species of the genus Salinibacillus. On the basis of morphological, physiological, chemotaxonomic and phylogenetic characteristics, strain CVS-14T is considered to represent a novel species in a new genus, for which the name Salirhabdus euzebyi gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is CVS-14T (=LMG 22839T=CIP 108577T).