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Two culture collection strains, CCM 168 and CCM 1405, previously assigned to the genus Micrococcus were shown by molecular chemical characterization to belong to the genus Salinicucczu, A more detailed comparison of the physiological and biochemical properties of these strains and comparison with the type strain of Sulinicoccus roseus indicated high degrees of relatedness among the three strains. DNA-DNA hybridization studies confirmed the high degrees of relatedness. All of the data demonstrate quite clearly that strains CCM 168 and CCM 1405 are members of the species S. roseus.The red-pigmented, moderately halophilic strains CCM 168 and CCM 1405 were isolated originally from a salted hide and salted meat, respectively (14,17). These organisms were initially considered strains of Micrococcus roseus, but Bohacek et al. (1) found that the guanine-plus-cytosine (G+C) content of their DNAs was 49.4 mol%, a value significantly lower than the G+C contents of members of the genus Micrococcus (8). Schleifer and Kandler (19) also reported that strains CCM 168 and CCM 1405 contained murein of the L-Lys-Gly,-L-Ala type. Taken together, these data are not in agreement with the current concept of members of the genus Micrococcus (8). In view of the fact that the results of a study of the molecular chemical properties of a microorganism may support the phylogenetic position of a strain, thus permitting an organism to be assigned to or excluded from groupings determined by 16s rRNA analysis, a study of the respiratory lipoquinones, fatty acids, polar lipids, and murein structure of strains CCM 168 and CCM 1405 was undertaken. It has previously been shown by a combination of chemical and molecular genetic methods that Salinicoccus roseus is phylogenetically distantly related to the staphylococci (21) and that Marinococcus hispanicus is a member of the genus Salinicoccus on the basis of chemical data (23). The results presented here quite clearly demonstrated that isolates CCM 168 and CCM 1405 are also members of the genus Salinicoccus.In the absence of comprehensive comparative data for CCM 168, CCM 1405, and members of the genus Salinicoccus, a more detailed physiological and biochemical characterization of these organisms was carried out. In addition, DNA-DNA hybridization experiments were carried out to examine the relatedness of strains CCM 168 and CCM 1405 to each other, as well as to members of the genus Salinicoccus and other gram-positive moderately halophilic cocci. The results presented here indicate unequivocally that not only do strains CCM 168 and CCM 1405 belong to the genus Salinicoccus, but they may also be considered isolates of the species Salinicoccus roseus, whose description was based on characterization of a single strain (22).* Corresponding author. MATERIALS AND METHODSOrganisms and growth conditions. Strain CCM 168, originally isolated from salted horse hide (14), and strain CCM 1405, isolated from salted meat (17), were obtained from the Czechoslovak Collection of Microorganisms, Brno, Czechoslovakia...

Ten strains designated as Planococcus halophilus, three strains of Planococcus sp. Group III, and an unidentified motile coccus were studied taxonomically. They all had meso-diaminopimelic acid in the cell wall, DNA base composition ranging between 43.9 to 46.6 %, menaquinone systems with MK-7, and growth at a concentration of 20 % of sodium chloride. These characteristics differ significantly from those of the type species (Planococcus citreus) of the genus Planococcus. Therefore, we regard these strains as belonging to a new genus, and propose the genus Marinococcus for such bacteria. Two species are recognized in this genus, Marinococcus albus sp. nov. and Marinococcus halophilus (Novitsky and Kushner) comb. nov. They differ from each other in colony pigmentation, oxidase, urease, extracellular DNase, nitrate reduction, hydrolysis of gelatin, casein and esculin, and production of acid from glucose and some other sugars. Marinococcus halophilus comb. nov. is the type species of the genus Marinococcus. Strain HK 718 (=CCM 2706, Czechoslovak Collection of Microorganisms, Brno, Czechoslovakia=IAM

A total of 54 moderately halophilic vibrios, which were isolated from several salterns located in different areas of Spain, were examined by using a wide range of morphological, physiological, biochemical, and nutritional tests. The resulting data, together with data for four reference Vibrio costicola strains including the type strain V. costicolu NCMB 701, and other marine species that were similarly examined, were compared by using several numerical taxonomic methods. There was a strong similarity between the 54 isolates and four reference strains of V. costicola that were isolated from cured meats. On the basis of these and other molecular data, including guanine-plus-cytosine content of the deoxyribonucleic acid and the plasmid content, we propose an amended description of this species.Vibrio costicola is a bacterium which is able to grow over a wide range of salt concentrations and thus is included in the moderately halophilic category (11). This species was isolated and described for the first time by Smith (24), as " V . costicolus," from rib bones in certain Australian bacon, suggesting the name "costicolus" (rib dweller). At present, V. costicola is included as a valid species in the Approved Lists of Bacterial Names (23).From a physiological point of view, many studies have been carried out with this species, and in fact, it has been considered as an organism representative of moderately halophilic bacteria. However, only a few taxonomic studies have been carried out, and all of them have studied organisms isolated from cured meats and curing brines (7,24,29; J. Robinson, Ph.D. thesis, McGill University, 1950).In the Bergey 's Manual of Determinative Bacteriology (8th ed.), this species was included as a member of the genus Vibrio and named correctly as V. costicola, but the taxonomic description was not very exhaustive (22). The recent edition of Bergey 's Manual of Systematic Bacteriology also includes this species in the genus Vibrio and provides more phenotypic characteristics, especially nutritional tests, but is based only upon two strains isolated from cured meats (1).In a taxonomic study of gram-negative rods isolated from solar salterns, Ventosa et al. (28) showed that microorganisms with phenotypic characteristics similar to those of V . costicola were present in high proportions in some ponds of the salterns. In the present work we isolated and characterized 54 vibrios from several hypersaline habitats and studied them in depth, together with the type strain V . costicola NCMB 701T as well as some other strains of this species isolated from cured meats and other reference strains. MATERIALS AND METHODSBacterial strains. The 54 strains studied were isolated from several solar salterns in Spain, located near Alicante, Huelva, and Cadiz, in the southeast, south, and southwest of Spain, respectively, and from the Canary Islands (Spain) in the Atlantic Ocean. The isolation medium, as well as the methodology, has been previously described (28). The selection of the strains was made on the basis ...

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