Haloargentinum marplatensisgen. nov., sp. nov., a novel extremely halophilic bacterium isolated from salted-ripened anchovy (Engraulis anchoita)

ABSTRACT A facultative aerobic, Gram-negative, motile, non-endospore forming and extremely halophilic bacterium, strain 11aii ⊺ , isolated from salted-ripened anchovy, was examined using a polyphasic approach to characterize and clarify its phylogenetic and taxonomic position. Sequences of the 16S rRNA gene revealed close relationships to species of the genera Lentibacillus and Virgibacillus (94.2% similarity). The organism grew optimally in the presence of 20-35 % NaCl. The major fatty acids of strain 11aii ⊺ were C 16:0 (42.1%) and anteiso-C15 :0 (31.2%) and also presented iso-C 16:0 (11.0%), anteiso-C 17:0 (10.4%) and C 18:0 (5.2%). Based on data presented here, strain 11aii ⊺ is considered to represent a novel genus and species, for which the name Haloargentinum marplatensis gen . nov. sp. nov. is proposed with the strain 11aii ⊺ as type strain.