A novel, moderately halophilic, Gram-positive bacterium, designated strain T , was isolated from sediment of a saline lake located near Xilinhot, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China. Cells were rod-shaped, endospore-forming and motile. The isolate was able to grow in the presence of 3-20 % (w/v) total salts (optimum, 10 %, w/v), and at 15-40 6C (optimum, 37 6C) and pH 6.0-10.0 (optimum, pH 7.5). Strain XH-22 T had diaminopimelic acid in the cell-wall peptidoglycan, MK-7 as the predominant menaquinone, and anteiso-C 15 : 0 , C 16 : 0 and iso-C 14 : 0 as major fatty acids. Chen et al., 2008). During the course of a study of halophilic bacteria from a saline lake in China, a moderately halophilic, Gram-positive bacterium, designated strain XH-22 T , was isolated. Phenotypic and chemotaxonomic characterization, together with DNA-DNA hybridization data and phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences, showed that strain XH-22T was related to members of the genus Virgibacillus but represented a novel species.
Strain XH-22T was isolated from a sediment sample from a saline lake located near Xilinhot, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China (43 u 559 N 115 u 379 E), according to the methodology described by Carrasco et al. (2007). No other strains with characteristics similar to that of the new isolate were found in this habitat. At the time of sampling, the water in the lake had a conductivity of 44.9 mS cm 21 , a temperature of 18 u C and a pH of 7.5. The medium used for isolation was HM medium (Ventosa et al., 1982). The composition of this medium was (w/v) 17.8 % NaCl, 0.1 % MgSO 4 . 7H 2 O, 0.036 % CaCl 2 . 2H 2 O, 0.2 % KCl, 0.006 % NaHCO 3 , 0.023 % NaBr, trace FeCl 3 . 6H 2 O, 1.0 % yeast extract (Difco), 0.5 % proteose peptone no. 3 (Difco) and 0.1 % glucose. The pH was adjusted to 7.2 with 1 M KOH. When necessary, solid media were prepared by adding 2.0 % (w/v) Bacto-agar (Difco). Strain T was routinely cultured on the maintenance medium described by Ventosa et al. (1982)