Halobacillus seohaensis sp nov., isolated from a marine solar saltern in Korea

A Gram-positive or Gram-variable, motile, moderately halophilic, rod-shaped bacterial strain, ISL-50(T), was isolated from a marine solar saltern in Korea and subjected to a polyphasic taxonomic study. Strain ISL-50(T) grew optimally at pH 7.0-8.0 and 37 degrees C in the presence of 8% (w/v) NaCl. Phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain ISL-50(T) belonged to the genus Halobacillus. Strain ISL-50(T) exhibited 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity values of 95.3-98.2% with respect to the type strains of recognized Halobacillus species. The cell-wall peptidoglycan was based on meso-diaminopimelic acid, the predominant menaquinone was MK-7 and the major fatty acids were anteiso-C-15:0 and anteiso-C-17:0. The DNA G + C content was 39.3 mol%. DNA-DNA relatedness data and differential phenotypic properties revealed that strain ISL-50(T) was distinguishable from the recognized Halobacillus species. On the basis of phenotypic, chemotaxonomic, phylogenetic and genetic data, strain ISL-50(T) represents a novel species of the genus Halobacillus, for which the name Halobacillus seohaensis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is ISL-50(T) (=KCTC 13145(T)= CCUG 54358(T)).