Nitrincola lacisaponensis gen. nov., sp. nov., a novel alkaliphilic bacterium isolated from an alkaline, saline lake.

A novel alkaliphilic bacterium, strain 4CAT, was isolated from decomposing wood taken from the shore of Soap Lake, a saline, alkaline lake in Grant County, WA, USA. Cells of the isolate were Gram-negative, asporogenous, short, motile rods that utilized only a limited range of organic acids as sole carbon and energy sources. In addition to oxygen, the strain possessed the ability to reduce in the presence of acetate. Strain 4CAT was oxidase- and catalase-positive; it degraded Tween 60, but not DNA, urea, gelatin or starch. It grew at pH values from 7.5 to 11.0, with optimum growth occurring at pH 9.0, and growth was observed in NaCl concentrations of 0.2-1.3 M, with optimum growth at 0.8 M NaCl. The optimum temperature for growth was 37 degrees C. Strain 4CAT was resistant to erythromycin, bacitracin, novobiocin, polymyxin B, neomycin, gentamicin, streptomycin, carbenicillin, rifampicin and tetracycline, and was susceptible to nalidixic acid, chloramphenicol, ampicillin and penicillin. The isolate's 16S rRNA gene sequence indicated that it belonged to the gamma-Proteobacteria, showing 90-94 % similarity to its closest relatives. Maximum-likelihood phylogenetic inferences placed strain 4CAT within a novel lineage related to the marine bacterial genera Neptunomonas and Marinobacterium. The DNA G+C content of the isolate was 47.4 mol%. On the basis of genotypic and phenotypic characterization, it was concluded that strain 4CAT should be placed in a separate taxon as a novel genus and species, with the proposed name Nitrincola lacisaponensis gen. nov., sp. nov. The type strain is 4CAT (=ATCC BAA-920T=DSM 16316T).