Halomarina rubra sp. nov., isolated from a marine solar saltern

Halophilic archaeal strain ZS-47-S^T was isolated from Zhoushan marine solar saltern, China. Cells were pleomorphic, stained Gram-negative, and formed red-pigmented colonies on agar plate. Strain ZS-47-S^T was able to grow at 20-50 °C (optimum 37 °C), at 0.9-4.8 M NaCl (optimum 3.4 M), at 0.005-1.0 M MgCl₂ (optimum 0.03 M), and at pH 5.5-9.5 (optimum pH 6.5-7.5). The cells lysed in distilled water and the minimal NaCl concentration to prevent cell-lysis was 5% (w/v). The major polar lipids were C₂₀C₂₀ and C₂₀C₂₅ diether derivatives of phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol phosphate methyl ester, phosphatidylglycerol sulfate, glucosyl mannosyl glucosyl diether, and three unidentified glycolipids. The 16S rRNA gene and rpoB' gene of strain ZS-47-S^T were phylogenetically related to the corresponding genes of Halomarina oriensis JCM 16495^T (98.57 and 92.94% similarities, respectively) and Halomarina salina CGMCC 1.12543^T (97.96 and 93.65% similarities, respectively). The DNA G + C content of strain ZS-47-S^T was 64.6 mol % (T _m). The phenotypic, chemotaxonomic, and phylogenetic properties suggested that strain ZS-47-S^T (=CGMCC 1.12563^T = JCM 30037^T) represents a new species of Halomarina, for which the name Halomarina rubra sp. nov. is proposed.