Halomonas pellis sp. nov., a moderately halophilic bacterium isolated from wetsalted hides

A Gram-stain-negative, moderately halophilic strain, designated strain L5(T), was isolated from wetsalted hides collected from Chengdu, south-west PR China. The cells were motile, facultative aerobic, short rod-shaped and non-endospore-forming. Growth of strain L5(T) occurred at pH 6-10 (optimum, pH 8), 10-45 degrees C (optimum, 30 degrees C) and in the presence of 1-17 % (w/v) NaCl (optimum, 10%). Results of phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rRNA, gyrB and rpoD gene sequences and its genome revealed that strain L5(T) belonged to the genus Halomonas. Strain L5T was found to be most closely related to the type strains of Halomonas saliphila, Halomonas lactosivorans, Halomonas kenyensis, Halomonas daqingensis and Halomonas desiderata (98.8, 98.6, 98.3, 97.9 and 97.4 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity, respectively). The draft genome was approximately 4.2 Mb in size with a G+C content of 63.5 mol%. The average nucleotide identity (ANI) and digital DNA-DNA hybridization values among strain L5(T) and the selected Halomonas species were 83.3-88.9 % (ANIm), 71.1-87.3% (ANIb) and 20.2-34.6%, which are below the recommended cutoff values. Major fatty acids were C-16:0, C-16:1 omega 7c, C-18:1 omega 7c and C-19:0 cyclo omega 8c and the predominant ubiquinone was Q-9, with minor ubiquinone Q-8 also present. The phospholipid profile consisted of diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylcholine, four unidentified aminophospholipids and three unidentified phospholipids. Based on the mentioned polyphasic taxonomic evidence, strain L5(T) represents a novel species within the genus Halomonas, for which Halomonas pellis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is L5(T) (=CGMCC 1.17335(T)=KCTC 72573(T)).