Georgenia alba sp. nov., a novel halotolerant actinobacterium isolated from a desert sand sample

Strain SYSU D8008^T was isolated from a desert sand sample collected from Saudi Arabia. The strain was observed to be Gram-stain positive, non-motile and aerobic. It can grow at 15-37 °C, pH 6.0-10.0 and can tolerant up to 7% (w/v) NaCl. Pairwise comparison of the 16S rRNA gene sequence indicated that strain SYSU D8008^T shares high sequence similarities with Georgenia deserti SYSU D8004^T (96.8%) and Georgenia halophila YIM 93316^T (96.8%). Menaquinone MK-8(H₄) was detected as the respiratory isoprenologue. The polar lipid profile of strain SYSU D8008^T was found to consist of diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylinositol, two phosphatidylinositol mannosides, an unidentified glycolipid and an unidentified phospholipid. Strain SYSU D8008^T was found to contain anteiso-C_15:0 and iso-C_15:0 as the predominant fatty acids. Galactose, glucose and rhamnose were detected as the whole cell sugars. Based on the phenotypic, genotypic and phylogenetic characteristics, strain SYSU D8008^T can be differentiated from other closely related members of the genus Georgenia. The strain SYSU D8008^T, therefore, is concluded to represent a novel species of the genus Georgenia, for which the name Georgenia alba sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is SYSU D8008^T (= CGMCC 1.15800^T = KCTC 39988^T).