Halopiger salifodinae sp. nov., an extremely halophilic archaeon isolated from a salt mine

A novel extremely halophilic archaeon KCY07-B2(T) was isolated from a salt mine in Kuche county, Xinjiang province, China. Colonies were cream-pigmented and cells were pleomorphic rod-shaped. Strain KCY07-B2(T) was able to grow at 25-50 °C (optimum 37-45 °C) and pH 6.0-8.0 (optimum 7.0). The strain required at least 1.9 M NaCl for growth. MgCl2 was not required. Cells lysed in distilled water. Polar lipid analysis revealed the presence of phosphatidylglycerol and phosphatidylglycerol phosphate methyl ester, derived from both C20C20 and C20C25 glycerol diethers, together with five glyolipids. The bis-sulfated glycolipid S2-DGD-1 was present. The DNA G+C content was 62.5 mol%. Analysis of the 16S rRNA gene sequence revealed that strain KCY07-B2(T) was closely related to Halopiger xanaduensis SH-6(T) and Halopiger aswanensis 56(T) (95.8 % and 95.5 % similarity, respectively). On the basis of its phenotypic, chemotaxonomic and genotypic characteristics, strain KCY07-B2(T) is considered to represent a novel species of the genus Halopiger, for which the name Halopiger salifodinae sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is KCY07-B2(T) ( = JCM 18547(T) = CGMCC 1.12284(T)).