Tenuibacillus multivorans gen. nov., sp. nov., a moderately halophilic bacterium isolated from saline soil in Xin-Jiang, China.

Two Gram-positive, rod-shaped, spore-forming and moderately halophilic bacteria (strains 28-1T, 28-4), isolated from a soil sample from a neutral salt lake in Xin-Jiang, China, were characterized polyphasically. On the basis of fasta (ungapped) analyses of 16S rRNA gene sequences, strains 28-1T and 28-4 were shown to belong to the Bacillaceae and to be closely related to Filobacillus milensis DSM 13259T (97.0 %) and Bacillus haloalkaliphilus DSM 5271T (95.7 %). 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity with other recognized species was not more than 94.1 %. Phylogenetic, chemotaxonomic, physiological and biochemical data supported the differentiation of these novel strains from F. milensis and B. haloalkaliphilus. Therefore these two previously unidentified strains are considered to represent a new genus and species, for which the name Tenuibacillus multivorans gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is 28-1T (=AS 1.3442T=NBRC 100370T).