Pontibacillus salipaludis sp. nov., a slightly halophilic bacterium isolated from a salt pan

Two novel Gram-stain-positive, facultatively anerobic, rod-shaped, motile, endospore-forming bacterial strains, 9DMT and 6DM, were isolated from Tuticorn, India. The high 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity (99.9 %) and DNA-DNA relatedness (88±2 %) indicated that strains 9DMT and 6DM were members of a single species. Based on 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis these strains were identified as belonging to the genus Pontibacillus and were related most closely to the type strains of Pontibacillus chungwhensis (99.7 % sequence similarity) and Pontibacillus marinus (97.9 %). The DNA G+C content of strains 9DMT and 6DM was 41.6 and 41.4 mol%, respectively. However, the level of DNA-DNA relatedness of these strains with P. chungwhensis KCTC 3890T and P. marinus KCTC 3917T was only 40.9 + 0.8 and 39.8 + 0.9 %, respectively. Strains 9DMT and 6DM were facultative anaerobes with optimal growth at 37 °C, at pH 7.0-8.0 and with 2-3 % (w/v) NaCl. The cell-wall peptidoglycan of strain 9DMT contained meso-diaminopimelic acid. Polar lipids included diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, a phospholipid and three unknown lipids. The isoprenoid quinone was MK-7. Major fatty acids of strain 9DMT were anteiso-C15 : 0, iso-C15 : 0, iso-C16 : 0 and anteiso-C17 : 0. The results of phylogenetic, chemotaxonomic and biochemical tests allowed the clear differentiation of strains 9DMT and 6DM, which are considered to represent a novel member of the genus Pontibacillus, for which the name Pontibacillus salipaludis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is 9DMT (= KCTC 33742T=LMG 29102T= CGMCC 1.15353T).