Oceanobacillus saliphilus sp. nov., Isolated from Saline-Alkali Soil in Heilongjiang Province, China

A novel bacterium, designated strain APA_H-1(4)^T, was isolated from the saline-alkaline soil, Zhaodong, Heilongjiang Province, China. Phenotypic and chemotaxonomic analyses, and whole-genome sequencing were used to determine the taxonomic position of the strain. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that the isolate belongs to the genus Oceanobacillus, and showed the highest sequence similarity to O. damuensis KCTC 33146^T (98.35%, similarity) and 'O. massiliensis' DSM 24644 (98.32%). The average nucleotide identity values between strain APA_H-1(4)^T and other members of the genus Oceanobacillus were lower than 82% recommended for distinguishing novel prokaryotic species. The digital DNA-DNA hybridization values of strain APA_H-1(4)^T with O. damuensis KCTC 33146^T and 'O. massiliensis' DSM 24644 were 13.60 and 17.60%, respectively. Cells of strain APA_H-1(4)^T were Gram-staining positive, motile, aerobic, spore-forming rods (0.5-0.7 × 1.8-2.6 μm) with flagella. The growth was found to occur optimally at 37 °C. The whole-cell hydrolysate contained meso-diaminopimelic acid as the diagnostic cell wall diamino acid. The main detected polar lipids consisted of diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, an unidentified phospholipid and an unidentified polar lipid. The predominant respiratory quinone was identified as menaquinone-7 (MK-7). The major cellular fatty acid (>10%) was anteiso-C_15:0. The G + C content of the genomic DNA was determined to be 38.4% based on the draft genome sequence. Based on the comparative analysis of polyphasic taxonomic data, strain APA_H-1(4)^T represents a novel species of the genus Oceanobacillus, for which the name Oceanobacillus saliphilus sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is APA_H-1(4)^T (=GDMCC 1.2239^T = KCTC 43254^T).