Soortia roseihalophila gen. nov., sp nov., a new taxon in the order Balneolales isolated from a travertine spring, and description of Soortiaceae fam. nov.

A novel Gram-stain-negative, slightly halophilic, motile, curved rod with a horseshoe shape, designated strain Bsw-2b(T), was isolated from Badab-Soort travertine spring in Iran. Phylogenetic analysis of the 16S rRNA gene sequence revealed that strain Bsw-2b(T) belongs to the order Balneolales, showing 84.6% sequence similarity to Gracilimonas tropica DSM 19535(T) and 84.4% and 83.9% sequence similarity to Gracilimonas rosea CL-KR2(T) and Balneola vulgaris DSM 17893(T), respectively. In addition, phenotypic and physiological features could clearly differentiate strain Bsw-2b(T) from species of the most closely related genera, Gracilimonas, Balneola, Aliifodinibius and Fodinibius. The strain was able to grow with 1-3% (w/v) (optimum at 2 %) NaCl, at temperatures of 28-34 degrees C (optimum at 30 degrees C) and between pH 6.0 and 8.0 (optimum at pH 7.0). The major cellular fatty acids of strain Bsw-2b(T) were iso-C-15 : 0, iso-C-13 : 0 and iso-C-14 : 0. The polar lipid profile of strain Bsw-2b(T) was composed predominantly of phosphatidylethanolamine, diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, an unknown glycolipid and four unknown phospholipids. The DNA G+ C content was 40.5 mol%. Based on the evidence from the polyphasic study, strain Bsw-2b(T) represents a novel species in a novel genus within a new family, for which the name Soortia roseihalophila gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed, within the new family Soortiaceae fam. nov. The type strain is strain Bsw-2b(T) (= IBRC-M 10915(T) = LMG 28547(T)).