Tindallia texcoconensis sp. nov., a new haloalkaliphilic bacterium isolated from lake Texcoco, Mexico.

A new alkaliphilic and moderately halophilic, strictly anaerobic, fermentative bacterium (strain IMP-300(T)) was isolated from a groundwater sample in the zone of the former soda lake Texcoco in Mexico. Strain IMP-300(T) was Gram-positive, non-sporulated, motile and rod-shaped. It grew within a pH range from 7.5 to 10.5, and an optimum at 9.5. The organism was obligately dependent on the presence of sodium salts. Growth showed an optimum at 35 degrees C with absence of growth above 45 degrees C. It fermented peptone and a few amino acids, preferentially arginine and ornithine, with production of acetate, propionate, and ammonium. Its fatty acid pattern was mainly composed of straight chain saturated, unsaturated, and cyclopropane fatty acids. The G + C content of genomic DNA was 40.0 mol%. Analysis of the 16S rRNA gene sequence indicated that the new isolate belongs to the genus Tindallia, in the low G + C Gram-positive phylum. Phylogenetically, strain IMP-300(T) has Tindallia californiensis, as closest relative with a 97.5% similarity level between their 16S rDNA gene sequences, but the DNA-DNA re-association value between the two DNAs was only 42.2%. On the basis of differences in genotypic, phenotypic, and phylogenetic characteristics, strain IMP-300(T) is proposed as a new species of the genus Tindallia, T. texcoconensis sp. nov. (type strain IMP-300(T ) = DSM 18041(T) = JCM 13990(T)).