Oceanobacillus longus sp nov., a moderately halophilic bacterium isolated from a salt lake

A Gram-stain-positive, endospore-forming, long rod-shaped, strictly aerobic, moderately halophilic bacterium, designated strain T9B(T), was isolated from a brine sample of the hypersaline lake Aran-Bidgol in Iran. Cells of strain T9B(T) were motile and produced colonies with a brown pigment. Growth occurred between 1.0 and 20% (w/v) NaCl and the isolate grew optimally at 5.0% (v/w) NaCl. The optimum pH and temperature for growth of the strain were pH 7.0 and 35 degrees C, while it was able to grow over pH and temperature ranges of pH 6.0-9.0 and 25-45 degrees C. Phylogenetic analysis based on the comparison of 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that strain T9B(T) is a member of the genus Oceanobacillus. The closest relative to this strain was Oceanobacillus rekensis PT-11(T) with a similarity of 97.4 %, followed by Oceanobacillus profundus CL-MP28(T) and Oceanobacillus polygoni SA9(T) with 97.3 and 97.1% similarity, respectively. The major cellular fatty acids of the isolate were anteiso-C-15 (:) (0), iso-C-14 (:) (0) and iso-C-16 (:) (0). The polar lipids of strain T9B(T) consisted of phosphatidylglycerol, diphosphatidylglycerol, three phospholipids and one aminoglycolipid. It contained MK-7 as the predominant menaquinone and meso-diaminopimelic acid in the cell-wall peptidoglycan. The G+C content of the genomic DNA of this strain was 42.9 mol%. Phylogenetic analysis, DNA-DNA hybridization data and phenotypic characteristics allowed strain T9B(T) to be differentiated from other members of the genus Oceanobacillus. A novel species, Oceanobacillus longus sp. nov., is therefore proposed to accommodate this strain. The type strain is T9B(T) (= IBRC-M 10703(T) = LMG 29250(T)).