Oceanobacillus damuensis sp. nov. and Oceanobacillus rekensis sp. nov., isolated from saline alkali soil samples.

Two moderately halophilic strains, PT-11(T) and PT-20(T), were isolated from saline alkali soil samples collected in Shache County, Xinjiang Province, China. Both strains are aerobic, Gram-positive, motile rods. Strain PT-11(T) grows at 15-40 °C and at pH 6.5-10.0, while PT-20(T) grows at 15-40 °C and at pH 6.5-11.0. The major cellular fatty acids in both strains include anteiso-C15:0, anteiso-C17:0 and iso-C15:0. For both strains, the polar lipids consist of diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, an unidentified phospholipid and several unidentified lipids. In addition, strain PT-20(T) also contains phosphatidylcholine. The major isoprenoid quinone for both strains is MK-7. The genomic G+C content is 36.7 % for PT-11(T) and 39.2 % for PT-20(T). Phylogenetic analyses of 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that these two isolates are members of the genus Oceanobacillus. DNA-DNA hybridization indicated that strains PT-11(T) and PT-20(T) should be considered two distinct species. On the basis of both phylogenetic and chemotaxonomic data analyses, therefore, we conclude that PT-11(T) and PT-20(T) represent two novel species within the genus Oceanobacillus, for which we propose the names Oceanobacillus rekensis sp. nov. and Oceanobacillus damuensis sp. nov., respectively. The type strains are PT-11(T) (=KCTC 33144(T) = DSM 26900(T)) and PT-20(T) (=KCTC 33146(T) = DSM 26901(T)).