Natrinema gari sp. nov., a halophilic archaeon isolated from fish sauce in Thailand.

Two Gram-negative, rod-shaped, halophilic archaea, designated strains HIS40-3(T) and HDS3-1, were isolated from anchovy fish sauce (nam-pla) collected from two different locations in Thailand. The two strains were able to grow at 20-60 degrees C (optimum 37-40 degrees C), at 1.7-5.1 M NaCl (optimum 2.6-3.4 M NaCl) and at pH 5.5-8.5 (optimum pH 6.0-6.5). Hypotonic treatment with less than 1.7 M NaCl caused cell lysis. The major polar lipids of the isolates were C(20)C(20) and C(20)C(25) derivatives of phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol phosphate methyl ester, phosphatidylglycerol sulfate, two glycolipids and one unidentified lipid. The DNA G+C contents were 64.0-65.4 mol%. In addition to phenotypic and chemotaxonomic characteristics, phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities showed that strains HIS40-3(T) and HDS3-1 were related most closely to species of the genus Natrinema. Levels of 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity between strains HIS40-3(T) and HDS3-1 and the type strains of recognized Natrinema species were 99.1-96.6 %. The two novel strains could be distinguished from recognized Natrinema species on the basis of low levels of DNA-DNA relatedness and differences in whole-cell protein patterns and phenotypic properties. Levels of 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity and DNA-DNA relatedness between the two strains were 99.7 and 77.7 %, respectively, suggesting that they should be classified as representing a single species. Based on these taxonomic data, strains HIS40-3(T) and HDS3-1 are considered to represent a novel species of the genus Natrinema, for which the name Natrinema gari sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is HIS40-3(T) (=BCC 24370(T) =JCM 14663(T) =PCU 303(T)).