Halobacillus dabanensis sp nov and Halobacillus aidingensis sp nov., isolated from salt lakes in Xinjiang, China

Two moderately halophilic spore-forming bacteria were isolated from salt lakes in the Xinjiang region of China. The two strains, designated AD-6(T) and D-8(T), were aerobic, Gram-positive, rod-shaped and motile by means of peritrichous flagella. Strains AD-6(T) and D-8(T) grew in the presence of 0(.)5-20% and 0(.)5-25% (w/v) NaCl in complex medium, respectively. Their cell-wall peptidoglycan was of the L-Orn-D-Asp type. The major menaquinone found in both strains was menaquinone-7 (MK-7). The fatty acid profile contained a large amount of branched fatty acids; the main fatty acids were anteiso-C-15: 0, anteiso-C-17:0, iso-C-15:0 and iso-C-16:0. The DNA G + C content of strains D-8(T) and AD-6(T) was 41(.)4 and 42(.)2 mol%, respectively. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that strains D-8(T) and AD-6(T) were located in the genus Halobacillus. Levels of 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity between the isolated strains and the type strains of Halobacillus species were in the range 96(.)2-99(.)5%. DNA-DNA relatedness values of 17(.)0-52(.)2% were found between the two strains and other Halobacillus species. The DNA-DNA relatedness value between D-8(T) and AD-6(T) was 50(.)6 %. On the basis of phenotypic and chemotaxonomic properties, phylogenetic analysis and genomic distinctiveness, strains D-8(T) and AD-6(T) should be placed in the genus Halobacillus as two novel species, for which the names Halobacillus dabanensis sp. nov. (type strain =JCM 12772(T) CGMCC 1.3704(T)) and Halobacillus aidingensis sp. nov. (type strain = JCM 1277(T) = CGMCC 1.3703(T)) are proposed, respectively.