Chromohalobacter salarius sp. nov., a moderately halophilic bacterium isolated from a solar saltern in Cabo de Gata, Almería, southern Spain

Abstract

A moderately halophilic, Gram-negative bacterium (strain CG4.1T), which was isolated from a solar saltern at Cabo de Gata, a wildlife reserve located in the province of Almería, southern Spain, was subjected to a polyphasic taxonomic study. This organism was an aerobic, motile rod that produced colonies with a yellow pigment. Strain CG4.1T grew at salinities of 3–25 % (w/v), at 15–45 °C and at pH 5–9. The organism reduced nitrate, hydrolysed starch and had phenylalanine deaminase activity. The major fatty acids were C18 : 1 ω7c, C16 : 0 and C19 : 0 cyclo ω8c. The DNA G+C content was 63.6 mol%. On the basis of phenotypic and phylogenetic data, strain CG4.1T appears to be a member of the genus Chromohalobacter and clustered closely with Chromohalobacter species, with 95–96 % similarity between their 16S rRNA gene sequences. However, DNA–DNA relatedness between the isolate and the type strains of Chromohalobacter species was low. Therefore, it is proposed that strain CG4.1T represents a novel species, Chromohalobacter salarius sp. nov. The type strain is strain CG4.1T (=CECT 5903T=LMG 23626T).