Piscibacillus salipliscarius gen. nov., sp nov., a moderately halophilic bacterium from fermented fish (pla-ra) in Thailand

A Gram-positive, spore-forming and moderately halophilic bacterium was isolated from fermented fish (pla-ra) in Thailand. Cells of the isolate, RBU1-(T), were strictly aerobic, motile rods and contained meso-diaminopimelic acid in the cell-wall pepticloglycan. Menaquinone with seven isoprene units (MK-7) was the predominant quinone. This isolate grew at 15-48 degrees C, pH 5-9 and in 2-30 % NaCl (optimally 10-20 %). The major cellular fatty acids were iso-C-15:0 and anteiso-C-15:0. Polar lipid analysis revealed the presence of phosphaticlylglycerol and diphosphatidylglycerol. The DNA G + C content was 36.7 mol%. 1 6S rRNA gene sequence analysis revealed that strain RBU1-1 T was a member of the family Bacillaceae, and belonged to a cluster with Filobacillus and Tenuibacillus; strain RBU1-1(T) showed 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities of 96.0-96.9 % to members of these two genera. Strain RBU1-1(T) could also be differentiated from members of the genera Filobacillus and Tenuibacillus based on certain phenotypic characteristics such as cell-wall composition, mode of flagellation and growth pH range. Therefore, strain RBU1-1(T) is considered to represent a novel species in a new genus in the family Bacillaceae, for which the name Piscibacillus salipiscarius gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain of Piscibacillus salipiscarius is RBU1-1(T) (=JCM 13188(T) = PCU 270(T) = TISTR 1571(T)).