Halalkalibacillus halophilus gen. nov., sp. nov., a novel moderately halophilic and alkaliphilic bacterium isolated from a non-saline soil sample in Japan.

A moderately halophilic and alkaliphilic bacterium, designated strain BH2(T), was isolated from non-saline garden soil in Saitama, Japan. Cells of strain BH2(T) were motile, aerobic, rod-shaped and Gram-positive and contained A1gamma, meso-diaminopimelic acid-type murein. Growth occurred in 5.0-25 % (w/v) NaCl (optimum, 10-15 %, w/v), at pH 5.5-10.0 (optimum, pH 8.5-9.0) and at 20-40 degrees C. The predominant isoprenoid quinone was menaquinone-7. The major cellular fatty acids were ai-C(15 : 0), i-C(16 : 0), ai-C(17 : 0) and i-C(15 : 0). The G+C content of the total DNA of strain BH2(T) was 35.1+/-0.4 mol% (+/-sd; n=5). The phylogenetic distance from species with validly published names was less than 94.1 %. The phylogenetic and phenotypic characteristics indicated that strain BH2(T) represents a novel genus and species, for which the name Halalkalibacillus halophilus gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is BH2(T) (=JCM 14192(T)=DSM 18494(T)).