Halolactibacillus alkaliphilus sp. nov., a moderately alkaliphilic and halophilic bacterium isolated from a soda lake in Inner Mongolia, China, and emended description of the genus Halolactibacillus.

A moderately alkaliphilic and halophilic bacterium was isolated from sediment of Xiarinaoer soda lake located in the Inner Mongolia municipality. This bacterium, designated strain H-5(T), was a facultative anaerobe, Gram-positive, rod-shaped and non-motile. Strain H-5(T) grew in complex medium with 0.5-30% (w/v) NaCl and at pH 7.5-13. The cell wall peptidoglycan contained meso-diaminopimelic acid. The major isoprenoid quinones found in this strain were MK-9H(4) and MK-9H(2), and the major cellular fatty acids were C(16:0) and anteiso-C(13:0). The DNA G+C content of strain H-5(T) was 38.3 mol%. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that strain H-5(T) was located in the genus Halolactibacillus. The 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities between strain H-5(T) and the type strains of the two recognized species of the genus Halolactibacillus were 98.6 and 98.0%. The DNA-DNA relatedness values between strain H-5(T) and the two type strains were 19 and 5%. Based on the phenotypic and chemotaxonomic data, the phylogenetic analysis and genomic distinctiveness, strain H-5(T) is considered to represent a novel species of the genus Halolactibacillus, for which the name Halolactibacillus alkaliphilus is proposed. The type strain is H-5(T) (=CGMCC AS 1.6843(T)=NBRC 103919(T)).