Alteribacter salitolerans sp. nov., isolated from a saline-alkaline soil

A Gram-positive strain APA H-16(1)^T was isolated from a saline-alkali soil sample collected from Heilongjiang Province, China. Cells were rod shaped, non-motile, endospore forming, and aerobic. Growth occurred at 10-45 °C (optimum, 35 °C), pH 7.0-10.5 (optimum, pH 9.5), and could tolerate NaCl up to 15.0% (w/v). Strain showed low 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities with Alteribacter natronophilus (97.8%), Alteribacter aurantiacus (97.7%), and Alteribacter populi (97.1%). The cell wall peptidoglycan was meso-diaminopimelic acid. The predominant menaquinone was MK-7. The polar lipid profile consisted of diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, unidentified aminophospholipids, unidentified phospholipid, and unidentified lipid. The major fatty acids were anteiso-C_15:0, and iso-C_15:0. The genomic G + C content was 45.1%. The average nucleotide identity and digital DNA-DNA hybridization values between strain APA H-16(1)^T and the most closely related species were below the cut-off level (95-96%; 70%) for species delineation. Based on phenotypic, phylogenetic, chemotaxonomic, and genome comparison, strain APA H-16(1)^T represents a novel species of the genus Alteribacter, for which the name Alteribacter salitolerans sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is APA H-16(1)^T (= KCTC 43228^T = CICC 25092^T).