Abstract

A strictly aerobic Gram-positive, moderately halophilic spore forming bacterium, designated strain SL6-1T, was isolated from a salt lake in Xin-jiang province, China. Growth of strain SL6-1T was observed at NaCl concentrations of 0~20% (w/v) (the optimum being 5~7%, w/v). The peptidoglycan type of strain SL6-1T was A1γ-meso-diaminopimelic acid and its major cellular fatty acids were iso-C14:0 and iso-C16:0 and anteiso-C15:0. The major respiratory isoprenoid quinone was MK-7 and the G+C content of the genomic DNA was 44.5 mol%. The major cellular phospholipids were phosphatidylglycerol and diphosphatidylglycerol. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain SL6-1T formed a phylogenetic lineage within the genus Virgibacillus. Based on 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity, the strain was most closely related to Virgibacillus olivae E308T, Virgibacillus kekensis YIM kkny16T, Virgibacillus marismortui DSM 12325T with 97.1%, 97.1%, and 97.0% gene sequence similarities, respectively and the sequence similarities to other related taxa were less than 96.7%. The DNA relatedness values between strain SL6-1T and V. olivae E308T, V. kekensis YIM kkny16T, V. marismortui DSM 12325T were 16.7%, 51.0%, and 22.8%, respectively. On the basis of physiological, biochemical and phylogenetic properties, strain SL6-1T represents a novel species, for which the name Virgibacillus xinjiangensis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is SL6-1T (=KCTC 13128T =DSM 19031T).

• Keywords: Virgibacillus xinjiangensis sp. nov.; halotolerant; Gram-positive