Halobiforma lacisalsi sp. nov., isolated from a salt lake in China

A Gram-negative, motile, neutrophilic and extremely halophilic strain, AJ5(T), was isolated from a salt lake in Xinjiang, China, and subjected to polyphasic taxonomic study. The major polar lipids of the isolate were C(20)C(20) and C(20)C(25) derivatives of phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol phosphate methyl ester and glycolipid. The DNA G+C content was 64.9 mol%. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that strain AJ5(T) clustered with members of the genus Halobiforma, exhibiting high sequence similarity to the 16S rRNA gene sequences of Halobiforma nitratireducens (96.3%) and Halobiforma haloterrestris (99.0%). Comparative analysis of phenotypic characteristics and DNA-DNA hybridization between strain AJ5(T) and Halobiforma species supported the conclusion that AJ5(T) represents a novel species within this genus, for which the name Halobiforma lacisalsi sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is AJ5(T) (=CGMCC 1.3738(T)=JCM 12983(T)).