Halomonas koreensis sp. nov., a novel moderately halophilic bacterium isolated from a solar saltern in Korea.

A moderately halophilic bacterium, strain SS20(T), capable of growing at salinities of 1-20 % (w/v) NaCl was isolated from a solar saltern of the Dangjin area in Korea and was characterized taxonomically. Strain SS20(T) was a Gram-negative bacterium comprising motile, short rods. Its major cellular fatty acids were C(18 : 1)omega7c, C(19 : 0)omega8c cyclo and C(16 : 0). The DNA G+C content was 70 mol% and the predominant ubiquinone was Q-9. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain SS20(T) belonged to the genus Halomonas. The levels of 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity to the type strains of Halomonas species were in the range 93.0-97.5 %. The levels of DNA-DNA relatedness between strain SS20(T) and the type strains of phylogenetically closely related Halomonas species were in the range 5.3-12.3 %. On the basis of physiological and molecular properties, strain SS20(T) represents a novel species of the genus Halomonas, for which the name Halomonas koreensis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is SS20(T) (=KCTC 12127(T)=JCM 12237(T)).