Three halophilic archaeal strains, MH2-243-1(T), MH2-93-1 and MH2-91-1 were isolated from commercial salt samples from Japan, Australia, and Bolivia. Strain MH2-243-1(T) was able to grow in the presence of 12-30% (w/v) NaCl (optimum, 18% NaCl), at pH 4.5-7.0 (optimum, pH 6.0) and at 20-60 °C (optimum, 40 °C). Strains MH2-91-1 and MH2-93-1 grew in slightly different ranges. The orthologous 16S rRNA gene sequences of the three strains were almost identical (99.8-99.9% similarities), and the closest relative was Salarchaeum japonicum JCM 16327(T) with 94.2-94.3% 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities, followed by strains of members of the closely related genera Halobacterium and Halarchaeum . The RNA polymerase subunit B' gene (rpoB') sequence also showed the highest similarity (86.6%) to that of Salarchaeum japonicum JCM 16327(T). The DNA G+C contents of strains MH2-243-1(T), MH2-93-1 and MH2-91-1 were 68.5, 68.8 and 68.3 mol%, respectively. DNA-DNA relatedness values amongst the three strains were 97-99%. The polar lipids of the three strains were phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol phosphate methyl ester, and at least seven unidentified glycolipids. The polar lipid composition differed from those of Salarchaeum japonicum and species of the genera Halobacterium and Halarchaeum . Based on the phenotypic and phylogenetic analyses, it is proposed that the isolates represent a novel species of a new genus, for which the name Halocalculus aciditolerans gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain of the type species is MH2-243-1(T) ( = JCM 19596(T) =KCTC 4149(T)) isolated from solar salt produced in Japan. MH2-93-1 ( = JCM 19595) and MH2-91-1 ( = JCM 19594) are additional strains of the type species.
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