Halomonas shengliensis sp. nov., a moderately halophilic, denitrifying, crude-oil-utilizing bacterium.

A moderately halophilic bacterium, designated strain SL014B-85(T), was isolated from a crude-oil-contaminated saline soil from Shengli oilfield, Shandong Province, China. Cells were Gram-negative, aerobic, short rods with lateral flagella. Growth occurred at NaCl concentrations of 0-15 % (optimum 5-15 %), at 10-42 degrees C (optimum 30 degrees C) and at pH 8.0-9.0 (optimum pH 8.5). The only respiratory quinone was Q9, and the main cellular fatty acids were C(18 : 1)omega7c, C(16 : 0) and C(19 : 0) cyclo omega8c. The G+C content of the DNA was 66.6 mol%. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that strain SL014B-85(T) belonged to the genus Halomonas in the Gammaproteobacteria, with highest sequence similarity of 98.1 and 97.8 % to Halomonas alimentaria DSM 15356(T) and Halomonas ventosae DSM 15911(T), respectively. DNA-DNA relatedness values were below 40 % with members of closely related Halomonas species. Results of phenotypic, biochemical and phylogenetic analyses revealed that strain SL014B-85(T) could be classified as representing a novel species of the genus Halomonas, for which the name Halomonas shengliensis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is SL014B-85(T) (=CGMCC 1.6444(T)=LMG 23897(T)).