Reclassification of Bacillus haloalkaliphilus Fritze 1996 as Alkalibacillus haloalkaliphilus gen. nov., comb. nov. and the description of Alkalibacillus salilacus sp. nov., a novel halophilic bacterium isolated from a salt lake in China

Abstract

A spore-forming, halophilic bacterium, designated strain BH163T, was isolated from a salt lake in China. Cells were motile, strictly aerobic rods that contained type A1γ peptidoglycan with meso-diaminopimelic acid as the diagnostic diamino acid. The isolate showed Gram- and catalase-positive reactions and formed a terminal endospore with a swollen sporangium. The major cellular fatty acids were anteiso-C15 : 0, iso-C15 : 0, anteiso-C17 : 0 and iso-C16 : 0. The genomic DNA G+C content of the strain was 41·0 mol%. Comparative analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain BH163T formed a distinct line within the phyletic group classically defined as the genus Bacillus and was most closely related to the taxa [Bacillus] haloalkaliphilus DSM 5271T and Filobacillus milosensis DSM 13259T, with 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities of 95·9 and 94·5 %, respectively. On the basis of physiological and molecular properties, it is proposed that [Bacillus] haloalkaliphilus DSM 5271T is reclassified in the new genus Alkalibacillus as Alkalibacillus haloalkaliphilus gen. nov., comb. nov. Strain BH163T (=KCTC 3916T=DSM 16460T) was assigned as the type strain of the novel species Alkalibacillus salilacus.

Large numbers of new bacterial taxa found by Yunnan Institute of Microbiology

“…Members of a new suborder, Jiangellineae [4], Zhihengliuella [5], Haloactinospora [6], Haloglycomyces [7], Amycolicicoccus [8], Yimella [9] and Sinococcus [10] were discovered in saline soil. Members of 6 new genera, Streptomonospora [11], Sediminimonas [12], Haloactinopolyspora [1], Alkalibacillus [13], Salinimicrobium [14] and Aidingimonas [15] were found in salt lakes and mines. We conclude that new bacterial taxa are surprisingly common in extreme environments, especially in hypersaline and alkaline habitats (Table 1).…”

Geomicrobium halophilum gen. nov., sp. nov., a moderately halophilic and alkaliphilic bacterium isolated from soil

“…Thus, both depend on NaCl for growth. A number of haloalkaliphilic species that belong to the genus Bacillus and related genera, such as Alkalibacillus, Gracilibacillus and Halobacillus, have been isolated from various saline environments (Fritze, 1996;Jeon et al, 2005;Romano et al, 2005;Spring et al, 1996;Wainø et al, 1999). In recent years, however, some haloalkaliphilic strains such as Alkalibacillus silvisoli (Usami et al, 2007), Bacillus oshimensis (Yumoto et al, 2005) and Halalkalibacillus halophilus (Echigo et al, 2007) have been isolated from ordinary field soils in Japan.…”

Gracilibacillus lacisalsi sp. nov., a halophilic Gram-positive bacterium from a salt lake in China

“…Moderately halophilic bacteria that grow optimally in media containing 3-15 % (w/v) NaCl are widely distributed in different marine environments and are made up of very heterogeneous physiological groups taxonomically, including both Gram-positive and Gram-negative microorganisms (Ventosa et al, 1998;Oren, 2002;Jeon et al, 2005a;Lim et al, 2005). Aerobic, spore-forming, halophilic, Gram-positive rods that were originally assigned to the genus Bacillus are also very diverse taxonomically and they form several phylogenetically distinct lineages (Ash et al, 1991;Stackebrandt & Liesack, 1993;Nielsen et al, 1994;Jeon et al, 2005b).…”

“…Additional enzymic activities were determined using API ZYM (bioMérieux) at 40 u C as recommended by the manufacturer. Cell morphology and motility were studied using phase-contrast microscopy and transmission electron microscopy (JEM-1010; JEOL) as described by Jeon et al (2005a). For visualization of the flagella, cells were mounted on Formvar-coated copper grids (Electron Microscopy Science) and negatively stained with 2 % (w/v) uranyl acetate for 15 s, then subjected to transmission electron microscopy operating at 60 kV.…”