Psychroflexus salarius sp. nov., isolated from Gomso salt pan

Abstract

A taxonomic study was carried out on a novel bacterial strain, designated MIC1008T, which was isolated from the Gomso salt pan, located in Buan County, Korea. Cells were Gram-stain-negative, aerobic, non-motile and moderately halophilic rods, 0.2–0.4 µm wide and 0.7–1.2 µm long. The optimum temperature and pH for growth were 25 °C and pH 6.5–8.5, respectively. Catalase and oxidase activities were positive. Carotenoid pigments were produced. Comparison of 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that the isolate belonged to the genus Psychroflexus , with Psychroflexus halocasei WCC 4520T as its closest relative, with a 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity of 95.4 %. The isolate contained iso-C15 : 0, iso-C15 : 1 G, iso-C17 : 0 3-OH, anteiso-C15 : 0 and iso-C15 : 0 3-OH as the major fatty acids and menaquinone MK-6 as the isoprenoid quinone. The major polar lipid profile of strain MIC1008T revealed the presence of phosphatidylethanolamine, an unidentified aminolipid and two unidentified lipids. The DNA G+C content of the isolate was 32.9 mol%. On the basis of the evidences presented, it is concluded that strain MIC1008T represents a novel species of the genus Psychroflexus within the family Flavobacteriaceae , for which the name Psychroflexus http://dx.doi.org/10.1601/nm.8182 salarius sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is MIC1008T ( = KACC 17063T = DSM 25661T).