Taxonomic study of Halorubrum distributum and proposal of Halorubrum terrestre sp. nov.

Halorubrum distributum (basonym, Halobacterium distributum) is an extremely halophilic, aerobic archaeon isolated from saline soils, which was described on the basis of phenotypic features of several strains. The designated type strain of the species (1m(T)=VKM B-1733(T)=JCM 9100(T)) was shown recently to differ from the other strains. In this study, Halorubrum distributum isolates have been characterized with regard to phenotypic features, polar lipid content, comparison of 16S rRNA gene sequences and DNA-DNA hybridization. On the basis of these data, a novel species that includes the other isolates is proposed, with the name Halorubrum terrestre sp. nov. The type strain of this novel species is 4p(T) (=VKM B-1739(T)=JCM 10247(T)). The DNA G+C content of this novel species is 64.2-64.9 mol% (64.4 mol% for the type strain).