Micrococcus halobius sp. n.

Abstract

A moderately halophilic coccus is described which possesses morphological and physiological characteristics most nearly corresponding to those of members of the genus Micrococcus. The organism was isolated from unrefined solar salt and is a moderate halophile; no growth occurs in media without added NaC1, but good growth is observed in media containing 1 to 4 M NaCl or KC1. The characteristics of this organism are sufficiently discrete to suggest that it be placed in a new species, for which the name Micrococcus halobius is proposed. The type strain is 28-3 ( = ATCC 2 1727).A moderately halophilic coccus was isolated from unrefined solar salt and was found to produce a considerable amount of halophilic amylase of unique salt response (17, 18). The present paper describes the morphological and physiological properties of this bacterium, which is sufficiently different from previously described cocci to be recognized as a new species. MATERIALS AND METHODSBacterial strain. A moderately halophilic coccus was isolated from unrefined solar salt of unknown origin obtained from Noda, Japan. The organism was given the strain designation 28-3 and was deposited at the American Type Culture Collection, Rockville, Md., as ATCC 2 1727.Measurement of growth. The bacterium was grown in the complex medium (SGC) of Sehgal and Gibbons (20) and in nutrient broth, to each of which was added NaCl, KCl, or glucose. Inocula (0.1 ml) from a 2-dayold culture grown in 2 M NaCl SGC medium were added to 500-ml shake flasks containing 80 ml of medium. The flasks were shaken at 30 C on a reciprocal shaker operating at 140 rev/min with a stroke of 7.5 cm. Turbidity was measured in 10-mm cuvettes at 660 nm against an uninoculated blank.Media and methods for characterization. Most of the methods used to characterize the organism have been described previously (21), except that 1 M NaCl medium was used unless stated otherwise.Nutrient broth ( 1 M NaCl) or agar was used for morphological and cultural observations. Acid production was determined by using MOF medium (12) containing 1 M NaC1. Nitrate reduction was determined by using a medium of the following composition: 0.1% K N 0 3 , 1.0% polypeptone, 2.0% MgS04.7H,0, 0.2% KCl, 0.3% sodium citrate, 5.8% NaC1, and 2.3 mg% FeCI,, p H 7.0. Media containing 2, 3, or 4 M NaCl were also employed. The utilization of NH,H,PO, was tested by using a medium of the following composition: 0.1% N H 4 H z P 0 4 , 1.0% glucose, 0.2% KC1, 2.0% MgSO,. 7H 20, 5.8% NaCI, 0.001 TO bromocresol purple, 2.3 mg% FeCl,, 0.4 pg of thiamine per ml, 0.001 pg of biotin per ml, and 1.5% agar, p H 7.0. Vitamin requirements were determined by adding the following nine vitamins to yeast extract-free SGC medium (pg/ml): DNA base composition. The bacterium was aerobically cultivated in 2 M NaCl SGC medium at 30 C for 60 hr. The procedure of Marmur (15) was used for the isolation of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). Two methods were employed to analyze the base composition of the isolated DNA: (i) determination of the guanine plus cyto...

Nesterenkonia jeotgali sp. nov., isolated from jeotgal, a traditional Korean fermented seafood

“…The chemotaxonomic properties of strain JG-241 T support the results of monothetic phylogenetic classification, (Li et al, 2004(Li et al, , 2005; 4, N. lutea (Li et al, 2005); 5, N. halobia (Onishi & Kamekura, 1972;Stackebrandt et al, 1995;Collins et al, 2002); 6, N. lacusekhoensis (Collins et al, 2002); 7, N. xinjiangensis (Li et al, 2004). Symbols: +, positive; 2, negative; W, weakly positive; ND, no data available.…”

“…The genus Nesterenkonia was proposed through the reclassification of Micrococcus halobius (Onishi & Kamekura, 1972) as Nesterenkonia halobia (Stackebrandt et al, 1995). Subsequently, five more Nesterenkonia species, Nesterenkonia lacusekhoensis (Collins et al, 2002), Nesterenkonia halotolerans and Nesterenkonia xinjiangensis (Li et al, 2004) and Nesterenkonia sandarakina and Nesterenkonia lutea (Li et al, 2005) have been described.…”

Precipitation of carbonates by Nesterenkonia halobia in liquid media

“…As part of a wider study of the capacity of different strains of moderately halophilic bacteria to precipitate calcium carbonate, we studied carbonate formation by Nesterenkonia halobia, a moderately halophilic Gram-positive nonmotile coccus, described originally as Micrococcus halobius by Onishi and Kamekura (1972).…”

Biodenitrification of concentrated red beet juice

“…Bacteria from the genus Halobacterium are extreme halophiles, as they tolerate salt concentrations over 4 M NaCl (over 200 g/L) [32]. Bacteria Micrococcus halobius are moderate halophiles, as they develop best in media containing up to 3 M NaCl (174 g/L), but they do not grow at concentrated glucose solutions with no sodium chloride added [33]. Such bacteria overgrow media with high nitrate concentrations, over 5 g/L.…”