Two alkaliphilic strains, designated FJAT-45086T and FJAT-45122T, were isolated from alkali soli in Nima County, Tibet, China. Both strains were Gram-positive, rod-shaped and shared low 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity with the members of the genus Bacillus. They contained meso-diaminopimelic acid as the cell-wall diamino acid and MK-7 as the menaquinone. The major fatty acids (>5%) of strain FJAT-45086T were anteiso-C15:0, C16:0, iso-C15:0, C16:1ω11c and anteiso-C17:0, whereas strain FJAT-45122T consisted of iso-C15:0, anteiso-C15:0, iso-C17:1ω10c, iso-C17:0, anteiso-C17:0, C16:0 and C16:1ω11c. The genome G + C content of strains FJAT-45086T and FJAT-45122T was 37.8 and 38.2 mol%, respectively. The polar lipids of strain FJAT-45086T were diphosphatidyl glycerol (DPG), phosphatidyl glycerol (PG), phosphatidyl ethanolamine (PE), and phosphatidyl choline (PC), whereas strain FJAT-45122T consisted of DPG, PG, phosphatidyl methyl ethanolamine (PME) and an unidentified aminophospholipids (UAPL). The average nucleotide identity values of strains FJAT-45086T and FJAT-45122T were below the cut-off level (95-96%) for species delineation. Based on the results, strains FJAT-45086T and FJAT-45122T represent two novel species of the genus Bacillus, for which the names Bacillus alkalisoli sp. nov., and Bacillus solitudinis sp. nov., are proposed. The type strain, FJAT-45122T (=DSM 104631T = CCTCC AB 2016254T), FJAT-45086T (=DSM 104056T = CCTCC AB 2016232T).
Keywords: Alkaliphiles; Bacillus alkalisoli; Bacillus solitudinis; Saline soil.