Bacillus persepolensis sp nov., a moderately halophilic bacterium from a hypersaline lake

A Gram-positive, moderately halophilic, endospore-forming bacterium, designated strain HS136(T) was isolated from the hypersaline lake Howz-Soltan in Iran. Cells were motile rods, producing ellipsoidal endospores at a central-subterminal position in non-swollen sporangia. Strain HS136(T), a strictly aerobic bacterium, grew between pH 7.0 and 10.0 (optimal growth at pH 8.0-8.5), between 25 and 45 degrees C (optimal growth at 40 degrees C) and at salinities of 5-20% (w/v) NaCl, growing optimally at 10% (w/v) NaCl. On the basis of 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, strain HS136(T) was shown to belong to the genus Bacillus within the phylum Firmicutes and showed closest phylogenetic similarity to Bacillus salarius BH169(T) (95.2%) and Bacillus qingdaonensis CM1(T) (94.5%). The DNA G + C content of this new isolate was 37.1 mol%. The major cellular fatty acids of strain HS136(T) were iso-C-15:0, anteiso-C-15:0 and anteiso-C-17:0, and its polar lipid pattern consisted of phosphatidylglycerol and diphosphatidylglycerol. The isoprenoid quinone was MK-7. The peptidoglycan type is A1 gamma, with meso-diaminopimelic acid as the diagnostic diamino acid. On the basis of polyphasic evidence from this study, Bacillus persepolensis sp. nov. is proposed, with strain HS136(T) (= CCM 7595(T) = DSM 21632(T) = JCM 15720(T) = LMG 25222(T)) as the type strain.