Prauserella halophila sp. nov. and Prauserella alba sp. nov., moderately halophilic actinomycetes from saline soil.

The actinomycete strains YIM 90001(T) and YIM 90005(T) were isolated on starch-casein agar [20 % (w/v) NaCl, pH 7.0] from a soil sample collected from Xinjiang Province in the west of China. The two isolates were aerobic and Gram-positive. The substrate mycelium was fragmented and an aerial mycelium was well developed on Czapek medium. The aerial mycelium formed long spore chains with branched short or long spore chains at maturity, which were straight to flexuous, and spores were non-motile. Based on the results of metabolic, chemotaxonomic and molecular analyses, the two isolates were identified as two new species of the genus Prauserella, for which the names Prauserella halophila for strain YIM 90001(T) (=DSM 44617(T)=CCTCC AA001015(T)) and Prauserella alba for strain YIM 90005(T) (=DSM 44590(T)=CCTCC AA001016(T)) are proposed.