Salipaludibacillus keqinensis sp. nov., a moderately halophilic bacterium isolated from a saline–alkaline lake

A novel Gram-stain positive, short rod, forming sub-terminal endospores of ellipsoidal shape, halophilic, alkaliphilic and aerobic bacterium, designated strain KQ-12 T , was isolated from a saline–alkaline lake in China, and characterised by a polyphasic taxonomic approach. The isolate grew at 4–40 °C (optimum, 25 °C), at pH 8.0–10.0 (pH 9.0) and in the presence of 0–16% (w/v) NaCl (8%). 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity of KQ-12 T to species in the genera Salipaludibacillus ranged from 96.6 to 98.1%. Phylogenetic trees indicated that the strain should be assigned to the genus Salipaludibacillus . The polar lipids of KQ-12 T were diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, and an unidentified phospholipid and its major cellular fatty acids were anteiso-C 15:0 , anteiso-C 17:0 , iso-C 15:0 , and C 16:0 . The isoprenoid quinone was MK-7. These key chemotaxonomic properties also confirmed the affiliation of the strain to the genus Salipaludibacillus . However, some physiological, biochemical properties, low average nucleotide identity and low digital DNA–DNA hybridization relatedness values enabled the strain to be differentiated from closely related species of the genus Salipaludibacillus . Thus, KQ-12 T can be classified as a novel species in the genus Salipaludibacillus , for which the name Salipaludibacillus keqinensis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is KQ-12 T ( = ACCC 60430 T = KCTC 33935 T ).