Jeotgalicoccus halophilus sp. nov., isolated from salt lakes

Two slightly halophilic bacterial strains, C1-52(T) and YD-9, were isolated from Daban and Aiding salt lakes in Xinjiang, China, respectively. The isolates were gram-positive, non-endospore-forming, non-motile, facultatively anaerobic cocci. Colonies were pale yellow, and a light pink, diffusible pigment was produced after a few additional days of incubation. The isolates grew optimally with 2-3 % (w/v) NaCl, at pH 7.5 and at 30-35 °C. The peptidoglycan type was L-Lys-Gly(3-4)-L-Ala(Gly). The menaquinones were MK-7 (83.2 %) and MK-6 (16.8 %). The major fatty acids (>10 %) were anteiso-C(15 : 0) and iso-C(15 : 0). The DNA G+C content of strains C1-52(T) and YD-9 was 41.2 and 41.0 mol%, respectively. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that strains C1-52(T) and YD-9 were closely related to Jeotgalicoccus psychrophilus YKJ-115(T) (98.0 and 97.1 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity, respectively), followed by Jeotgalicoccus halotolerans YKJ-101(T) (97.1 and 96.8 %). Strains C1-52(T) and YD-9 shared, respectively, 20 and 11 % DNA-DNA relatedness with J. halotolerans JCM 11198(T) and 8 and 13 % with J. psychrophilus JCM 11199(T). DNA-DNA relatedness between the isolates was 91 %. On the basis of phenotypic and phylogenetic distinctiveness, strains C1-52(T) and YD-9 belonged to the same species, which should be placed in the genus Jeotgalicoccus as a novel species. The name Jeotgalicoccus halophilus sp. nov. is proposed, with the type strain C1-52(T) ( = CGMCC 1.8911(T)  = NBRC 105788(T)).