Aquisalimonas asiatica gen. nov., sp. nov., a moderately halophilic bacterium isolated from an alkaline, saline lake in Inner Mongolia, China.

Two novel moderately halophilic, Gram-negative rods (strains CG12(T) and CG13) were isolated from Lake Chagannor in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China. They were strictly aerobic and motile. They grew at pH 6.0-10.8 (optimally at pH 7.5-8.5), at 20-50 degrees C (optimally at 37 degrees C) and at salinities of 1-20 % (w/v) total salts (optimally at 7-10 %, w/v). Phylogenetic analysis of the two strains, based on a comparison of their 16S rRNA genes, led to their classification within the class Gammaproteobacteria, the closest recognized type strain being Alkalispirillum mobile DSM 12769(T), with which they were found to share 94.4-94.6 % sequence similarity. On the basis of DNA-DNA hybridization data (showing 100 and 99 % relatedness for each other), the two isolates were found to be members of the same species. The DNA G+C contents of strains CG12(T) and CG13 were found to be 63.6 and 64.0 mol%, respectively. The major cellular fatty acids of strain CG12(T), selected as the representative strain, were C(18 : 1)omega7c, C(16 : 0) and C(12 : 0), and its polar lipids consisted of phosphatidylglycerol, diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylcholine, a phosphoglycolipid and six unidentified phospholipids. On the basis of the polyphasic evidence from this study, strains CG12(T) and CG13 represent a novel genus and species, for which the name Aquisalimonas asiatica gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain of Aquisalimonas asiatica is CG12(T) (=CCM 7368(T)=CECT 7151(T)=CGMCC 1.6291(T)=DSM 18102(T)).