Halorubrum californiense sp nov., an extreme archaeal halophile isolated from a crystallizer pond at a solar salt plant in California, USA

A motile, rod-shaped, pink-pigmented, extremely halophilic archaeon, strain SF3-213(T), was isolated from a crystallizer pond at the Cargill Solar Salt Plant, Newark, California (USA). Analysis of the almost-complete 16S rRNA gene sequence showed that the isolate was phylogenetically related to species of the genus Halorubrum, with a close relationship to Halorubrum trapanicum NIRC 34021(T) (98.6 % similarity), Halorubrum sodomense ATCC 33755(T) (98.3%) and Halorubrum xinjiangense AS 1.3527(T) (98.2 %). The polar lipids of strain SF3-213(T)were C20C20 derivatives of phosphaticlylglycerol, phosphaticlylglycerol phosphate methyl ester, phosphaticlylglycerol sulfate and a sulfated cliglycosyl-cliether. Strain SF3-213(T) grew in 2.55.0 M NaCl. The temperature and pH ranges for growth were 25-42 degrees C and 6.8-8.5, respectively. Optimal growth occurred at 3.5-4.5 M NaCl, 37 degrees C and pH 7.3. Mg2+ was required for growth. The DNA G + C content was 69.4 mol%. DNA-DNA hybridization values lower than 70 % were obtained between strain SF3-213(T) and the closely related species of the genus Halorubrum. Based on the data presented in this study, strain SF3-213(T) represents a novel species for which the name Halorubrum califomiense sp. nov. is proposed; the type strain is SF3-213(T) (-CECT 7256(T) =DSM 19288(T)=JCM 14715(T)).