Nesterenkonia aurantiaca sp. nov., an alkaliphilic actinobacterium isolated from Antarctica

A Gram-stain-positive, non-endospore-forming, haloalkaliphilic actinobacterium, strain CK5 T , was isolated from a soil sample, collected at Cape King (Antarctica), and its taxonomic position was investigated by using a polyphasic approach. Cells were cocci with orange pigmentation, non-motile and grew optimally at 25 °C and pH 9.0-9.5 in the presence of 2 % (w/v) NaCl. Cellular membrane contained MK-7 (72 %) and MK-8 (28 %), and anteiso-C 15 : 0 (64.8 %), iso-C 16 : 0 (13.3 %), n -C 17 : 0 (9.9 %), n -C 16 : 0 (4.0 %), n -C 14 : 0 (3.7 %) as major cellular fatty acids. The DNA G+C content was 64.8 mol%. Strain CK5 T , based on the 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity, was most closely related to Nesterenkonia jeotgali JG-241 T (99.5 %), Nesterenkonia sandarakina YIM 70009 T (99.4 %), Nesterenkonia lutea YIM 70081 T (99.4 %), Nesterenkonia halotolerans YIM 70084 T (99.3 %), Nesterenkonia xinjiangensis YIM 70097 T (97.2 %), Nesterenkonia flava CAAS 251 T (97.1 %) and Nesterekonia aethiopica CCUG 48939 T (97.1 %). Strain CK5 T revealed 31 % DNA-DNA relatedness with respect to N. sandarakina DSM 15664 T , 29 % with respect to N. jeotgali DSM 19081 T , 10 % with respect to N. lutea DSM 15666 T and 1 % with respect to N. halotolerans, DSM 15474 T , N. xinjiangensis DSM 15475 T , N. aethiopica DSM 17733 T and N. flava DSM 19422 T . On the basis of 16S rRNA gene sequences, DNA-DNA hybridization and chemotaxonomic characteristics, strain CK5 T represents a novel species of the genus Nesterenkonia , for which the name Nesterenkonia aurantiaca sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is CK5 T ( = DSM 27373 T  = JCM 19723 T ).