Halalkalibacillus halophilus gen. nov., sp nov., a novel moderately halophilic and alkallphilic bacterium isolated from a non-saline soil sample in Japan

A moderately halophilic and alkaliphilic bacterium, designated strain BH2(T), was isolated from non-saline garden soil in Saitama, Japan. Cells of strain BH2(T) were motile, aerobic, rod-shaped and Gram-positive and contained A1 gamma, meso-diaminopimelic acid-type murein. Growth occurred in 5.0-25% (w/v) NaCl (optimum, 10-15%, w/v), at pH 5.5-10.0 (optimum, pH 8.5-9.0) and at 20-40 degrees C. The predominant isoprenoid quinone was menaquinone-7. The major cellular fatty acids were ai-C-15:0, i-C-16:0, ai-C-17:0 and i-C-15:0. The G + C content of the total DNA of strain BH2(T) was 35.1 +/- 0.4 mol% (+/- SD; n = 5). The phylogenetic distance from species with validly published names was less than 94.1%. The phylogenetic and phenotypic characteristics indicated that strain BH2(T) represents a novel genus and species, for which the name Halalkalibacillus halophilus gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is BH2(T)(=JCM 14192(T) = DSM 18494(T)).