Halomonas alkalitolerans sp. nov., a Novel Moderately Halophilic Bacteriun Isolated from Soda Meadow Saline Soil in Daqing, China

A moderately halophilic bacterial strain 15-13 ^T, which was isolated from soda meadow saline soil in Daqing City, Heilongjiang Province, China, was subjected to a polyphasic taxonomic study. The cells of strain 15-13 were found to be Gram-negative, rod-shaped, and motile. The required growth conditions for strain 15-13 ^T were: 1-23% NaCl (optimum, 7%), 10-50°C (optimum, 35°C), and pH 7. 0-11. 0 (optimum, pH 9. 5). The predominant cellular fatty acids were C _18:1ω7c (60. 48%) and C _16:0 (13. 96%). The DNA G+C content was 67. 6 mol%. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequence comparisons indicated that strain 15-13 ^T clustered within a branch comprising species of the genus Halomonas. The closest phylogenetic neighbor of strain 15-13 ^T was Halomonas pantelleriensis DSM 9661 ^T (98. 9% 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity). The level of DNA-DNA relatedness between the novel isolated strain and H pantelleriensis DSM 9661 ^T was 33. 8%. On the basis of the phenotypic and phylogenetic data, strain 15-13 ^T represents a novel species of the genus Halomonas, for which the name Halomonas alkalitolerans sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain for this novel species is 15-13 ^T (=CGMCC 1. 9129 ^T =NBRC 106539 ^T).