A taxonomic study was performed on strain YIM 31775T, which was isolated from a soil sample collected from Yunnan Province, China. The isolate was chemo-organotrophic, aerobic and Gram-negative. Cells were short rods and motile, with one or more polar flagella. Growth temperature and pH ranged from 4 to 55 °C and 6·5 to 12·0, respectively; the optimum growth temperature and pH were 28–37 °C and 7·0–9·0, respectively. Q-8 was the predominant respiratory lipoquinone. The major fatty acids were C16 : 1 ω7c (42·4 %) and C16 : 0 (28·1 %). The DNA G+C content was 62·4±0·3 mol%. Phylogenetic analysis based on the 16S rRNA gene sequence indicated that strain YIM 31775T should be placed within the family ‘Oxalobacteraceae’, in which it formed a distinct lineage. Based on the high 16S rRNA gene sequence divergence and phenotypic characteristics, it is proposed that strain YIM 31775T should be classified as representing a novel member of the family ‘Oxalobacteraceae’, for which the name Naxibacter alkalitolerans gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is YIM 31775T (=CCTCC AA 204003T=KCTC 12194T).

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A Gram-positive, non-motile, white-pigmented, short rod actinobacterium, designated YIM 90734 T , was isolated from a saline soil sample collected from Ganjiahu Suosuo Forest National Nature Reserve in Xinjiang province, north-west China, and its taxonomic position was investigated by using a polyphasic approach. Strain YIM 90734 T grew optimally at 28-37 6C and pH 6.0-8.0 and in 5 % (w/v) NaCl. The peptidoglycan type was A4a, L-Lys-L-Ala-L-Glu and tyvelose and mannose were the major cell-wall sugars. The predominant menaquinones were MK-10 and MK-9. Major cellular fatty acids (.10 % of total) were anteiso-C 15 : 0 and anteiso-C 17 : 0 . The polar lipids were diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylinositol, one unknown phospholipid and two unknown glycolipids. The DNA G+C content was 70.3 mol%. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain YIM 90734 T belonged to the genus Zhihengliuella. The 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity between strain YIM 90734 T and the type strain of the only recognized Zhihengliuella species, Zhihengliuella halotolerans, was 97.7 %. However, the level of DNA-DNA relatedness of the two strains was 41.4 %. The DNA-DNA relatedness data and differential phenotypic properties, together with the phylogenetic distinctiveness, demonstrated that strain YIM 90734 T could be differentiated from Z.halotolerans. On the basis of the data presented, strain YIM 90734 T is considered to represent a novel species of the genus Zhihengliuella, for which the name Zhihengliuella alba sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is YIM 90734 T (5KCTC 19375 T 5DSM 21143 T ). The description of the genus Zhihengliuella has also been emended. et al. (2007) and initially contained only one species, Zhihengliuella halotolerans (type strain YIM 70185 T ), which was isolated from Qinghai province, north-west China. The genus Zhihengliuella is described as comprising a Grampositive, non-motile, short-rod actinobacterium that was catalase-positive and oxidase-negative. The peptidoglycan type was A4a, L-Lys-L-Ala-L-Glu. Cell-wall sugars contained tyvelose and glucose. The predominant menaquinones were MK-9 and MK-10 and the major fatty acids were anteiso-C 15 : 0 and iso-C 15 : 0 . The major polar lipids were phosphatidylglycerol, diphosphatidylglycerol and phosphatidylinositol. The G+C content of the genomic DNA was about 66.5 mol% . In this paper, we describe the characterization and classification of a halotolerant actinobacterium, designated YIM 90734 T , which was isolated from a saline sample collected from Ganjiahu Suosuo Forest National Nature Reserve in Xinjiang province, north-west China and was considered to represent a novel species of the genus Zhihengliuella. The genus Zhihengliuella was first established by Zhang Strain YIM 90734T was isolated from a saline soil sample after 3 weeks incubation at 37 u C on modified ISP 5 medium comprising (1 21 distilled water, final pH 7.5): 1 g L-asparagine, 10 g glycerol, 5 g yeast extract, 1 g K 2 HPO 4 , 5 g KNO 3 , 100 g NaC...

Thousands of hot springs are located in the north-eastern part of the Yunnan-Tibet geothermal zone, which is one of the most active geothermal areas in the world. However, a comprehensive and detailed understanding of microbial diversity in these hot springs is still lacking. In this study, bacterial and archaeal diversities were investigated in 16 hot springs (pH 3.2-8.6; temperature 47-96°C) in Yunnan Province and Tibet, China by using a barcoded 16S rRNA gene-pyrosequencing approach. Aquificae, Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, Deinococcus-Thermus and Bacteroidetes comprised the large portion of the bacterial communities in acidic hot springs. Non-acidic hot springs harboured more and variable bacterial phyla than acidic springs. Desulfurococcales and unclassified Crenarchaeota were the dominated groups in archaeal populations from most of the non-acidic hot springs; whereas, the archaeal community structure in acidic hot springs was simpler and characterized by Sulfolobales and Thermoplasmata. The phylogenetic analyses showed that Aquificae and Crenarchaeota were predominant in the investigated springs and possessed many phylogenetic lineages that have never been detected in other hot springs in the world. Thus findings from this study significantly improve our understanding of microbial diversity in terrestrial hot springs.

A Gram-positive, aerobic, non-motile, mesophilic strain, djl-6 T , able to degrade carbendazim, was isolated from a carbendazim-contaminated soil sample from Jiangsu province, China. The taxonomic position of this isolate was analysed by using a polyphasic approach. Chemotaxonomic analysis including peptidoglycan type, diagnostic sugar composition, fatty acid profile, menaquinones, polar lipids and mycolic acids showed that the characteristics of strain djl-6 T were in good agreement with those of the genus Rhodococcus. DNA-DNA hybridization showed that it had low genomic relatedness with Rhodococcus baikonurensis DSM 44587 T (31.8 %), Rhodococcus erythropolis DSM 43066 T (23.8 %) and Rhodococcus globerulus DSM 43954 T (17.7 %), the three type strains to which strain djl-6 T was most closely related based on 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis (99.78, 99.25 and 98.91 % similarity, respectively). Based on the phenotypic properties and DNA-DNA hybridization data, strain djl-6 T (5CGMCC 1.6580 T 5KCTC 19205 T ) is proposed as the type strain of a novel Rhodococcus species, Rhodococcus qingshengii sp. nov.Members of the genus Rhodococcus are common in nature, possess a wide spectrum of catabolic activities and are able to survive under extremely harsh conditions, which makes them potentially useful in environmental and industrial biotechnology (Shao et al., 1995). With the development of polyphasic procedures, the taxonomic positions of Rhodococcus species have undergone extensive changes over recent decades. The genus Rhodococcus was first described by Zopf (1891), reintroduced by Tsukamura (1974) and redefined by Goodfellow & Alderson (1977). At the time of writing, there are 40 species of the genus Rhodococcus with validly published names (Euzéby, 2007).Strain djl-6 T , isolated in our laboratory as described below, is capable of degrading carbendazim efficiently (Xu et al., 2006). Carbendazim is one of the most widely used benzimidazole fungicides and is also a conversion product of benomyl and thiophanate-methyl. This fungicide can harm the liver and endocrine system and has mutagenic and teratogenic effects on animals, even at low concentrations (Mazellier et al., 2003). Microbial metabolism is the main mechanism of eliminating or minimizing contamination by carbendazim (WHO, 1993). To date, only a few pure cultures of bacteria with the ability to degrade carbendazim have been documented (Holtman & Kobayashi, 1997;Zhang et al., 2005a;Xu et al., 2006). Strain djl-6 T was isolated by selective enrichment from a carbendazim-contaminated soil sample from Jiangsu province, China, and grew well on Luria-Bertani (LB) medium or minimal medium with carbendazim as sole carbon and energy source at 30 u C (Xu et al., 2006). Rhodococcus baikonurensis DSM 44587 T , Rhodococcus erythropolis DSM 43066 T and Rhodococcus globerulus DSM 43954 T , used as reference organisms, were purchased from the Deutsche Sammlung von Mikroorganismen und Zellkulturen (Braunschweig, Germany), and were cultivated in tryptic soy broth at 30 u C (Zha...