Aquisalimonas lutea sp nov., a moderately halophilic bacterium from a saltern

A yellow-pigmented, motile, Gram-stain-negative, moderately halophilic and strictly aerobic bacterium, designated BA42AL-1(T), was isolated from water of a saltern of Santa Pola, Alicante, Spain. Strain BA42AL-1(T) grew in media containing 5-20% (w/v) salts (optimum 7.5% salts). It grew between pH 6.0 and 9.0 (optimally at pH 7.5) and at 15-45 degrees C (optimally at 37 degrees C). Phylogenetic analysis based on the comparison of 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that strain BA42AL-1(T) is a member of the genus Aquisalimonas. The closest relatives to this strain were Aquisalimonas halophila YIM 95345(T) and Aquisalimonas asiatica CG12(T) with sequence similarities of 99.4% and 97.0%, respectively. DNA-DNA hybridization between the novel isolate and Aquisalimonas halophila YIM 95345T revealed a relatedness of 54%. The major fatty acids of strain BA42AL-1(T) were C-18:1 omega 6c/C-18:1 omega 7c, C-19:0 cyclo omega 8c and C-16:0, and lower contents of C-12:0 and C-18:0. The polar lipid pattern of strain BA42AL-1(T) consisted of diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylmethylethanolamine, phosphatidylcholine, two glycolipids, a lipid and four unknown phospholipids. The G+C content of the genomic DNA of this strain was 65.0 mol%. Based on the DNA-DNA hybridization, phenotypic, chemotaxonomic and phylogenetic data presented in this study, strain BA42AL-1(T) is proposed as a novel species of the genus Aquisalimonas, for which the name Aquisalimonas lutea sp. nov. is suggested. The type strain is BA42AL-1(T) (=CCM 8472(T)=CECT 8326(T)=LMG 27614(T)).