Alkalihalobacillus deserti sp. nov., Isolated from the Saline-Alkaline Soil

Abstract

A bacterial strain, designated TRPH29^T, was isolated from saline-alkaline soil, collected from the southern edge of the Gurbantunggut desert, Xinjiang, People's Republic of China. The isolate was Gram-staining positive, facultatively anaerobic, straight rods. Growth occurred at 15-40 °C (optimum, 28 °C), pH 8.0-13.0 (optimum, 10.0), and in the presence of 0-15% (w/v) NaCl (optimum, 2%). Phylogenetic analysis using 16S rRNA gene sequence indicated that strain TRPH29^T showed the highest sequence similarities to Alkalihalobacillus krulwichiae (98.31%), Alkalihalobacillus wakoensis (98.04%), and Alkalihalobacillus akibai (97.69%). Average nucleotide identity (ANI) and digital DNA-DNA hybridization values between strain TRPH29^T and Alkalihalobacillus krulwichiae, Alkalihalobacillus wakoensis, Alkalihalobacillus akibai were in the range of 73.62-75.52% and 15.0-21.20%, respectively. Results of genome analyses indicated that the genome size of strain TRPH29^T was 5.05 Mb, with a genomic DNA G + C content of 37.30%. Analysis of the cellular component of strain TRPH29^T revealed that the primary fatty acids were anteiso-C_15:0 and iso-C_15:0, and the polar lipids included diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, an unidentified glycolipid, and an unidentified phospholipid. The predominant respiratory quinone was MK-7. Based on the genomic, phylogenetic, phenotypic and chemotaxonomic analyses, strain TRPH29^T represents a novel species of the genus Alkalihalobacillus, for which the name Alkalihalobacillus deserti sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is TRPH29^T (= CGMCC 1.19067^T = NBRC 115475^T).