Halobacillus naozhouensis sp. nov., a moderately halophilic bacterium isolated from a sea anemone

A moderately halophilic, Gram-positive, catalase- and oxidase-positive, rod-shaped, aerobic bacterium, designated strain JSM 071068(T), was isolated from a sea anemone (Anthopleura xanthogrammica) collected from the Naozhou Island on the Leizhou Bay in the South China Sea. Cells were motile by means of peritrichous flagella and formed ellipsoidal endospores lying in subterminal swollen sporangia. Strain JSM 071068(T) was able to grow with 1-20% (w/v) total salts (optimum, 6-9%), at pH values of 6.0-10.0 (optimum, pH 7.5) and a temperature range of 10-35 degrees C (optimum, 25 degrees C). meso-Diaminopimelic acid was present in the cell-wall peptidoglycan. The predominant menaquinone was MK-7 and the major cellular fatty acids were anteiso-C(15:0), anteiso-C(17:0) and iso-C(15:0). The genomic DNA G + C content was 42.8 mol%. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequence comparisons revealed that strain JSM 071068(T) belonged to the genus Halobacillus. The 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities between strain JSM 071068(T) and the type strains of the recognized Halobacillus species ranged from 97.9% (with Halobacillus alkaliphilus) to 95.3% (with Halobacillus kuroshimensis). The levels of DNA-DNA relatedness between the new isolate and the type strains of H. alkaliphilus, Halobacillus campisalis, Halobacillus halophilus and Halobacillus seohaensis were 25.6, 22.1, 10.8 and 13.2%, respectively. The combination of phylogenetic analysis, DNA-DNA relatedness, phenotypic characteristics and chemotaxonomic data supported the view that strain JSM 071068(T) represents a new species of the genus Halobacillus, for which the name Halobacillus naozhouensis sp. nov. is proposed, with JSM 071068(T) (=DSM 21183(T) =KCTC 13234(T)) as the type strain.