Salisediminibacterium halotolerans gen. nov., sp. nov., a halophilic bacterium from soda lake sediment.

An orange-pigmented, Gram-reaction-positive, non-spore-forming, halophilic, alkali-tolerant rod, designated strain halo-2T, was isolated from sediment of Xiarinaoer soda lake, in China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Strain halo-2T grew in a complex medium with 3–30 % (w/v) NaCl and at pH 5–10. The cell-wall peptidoglycan contained meso-diaminopimelic acid and the major respiratory isoprenoid quinone was MK-7. The predominant cellular fatty acids were anteiso-C15 : 0 (43.6 %), anteiso-C17 : 0 (14.8 %) and iso-C15 : 0 (6.8 %) and the polar lipids consisted of diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine and phosphatidylglycerol. The genomic DNA G+C content of the novel strain was 48.2 mol%. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain halo-2T was most closely related to Bacillus agaradhaerens DSM 8721T (93.9 % sequence similarity). However, strain halo-2T could be clearly differentiated from its closest phylogenetic relatives on the basis of several phenotypic, genotypic and chemotaxonomic characteristics. Strain halo-2T therefore represents a novel species in a new genus for which the name Salisediminibacterium halotolerans gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain of the type species is halo-2T ( = CGMCC 1.7654T = NBRC 104935T).