Rhodohalobacter sulfatireducens sp. nov., isolated from a marine solar saltern

Abstract A novel Gram-stain-negative, oxidase-positive, catalase-positive, non-motile, facultatively anaerobic, and rod-shaped bacterium, designated WB101T, was isolated from a marine solar saltern located in Wendeng, PR China. Growth occurs at 25–42°C (optimum, 35–37°C), 1.0–11.0% (w/v) NaCl (optimum, 5.0–6.0%), and pH 7.0–8.5 (optimum, 7.5–8.0). Analysis based on the 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that WB101T shared high level of sequence similarity with Rhodohalobacter barkolensis 15182T (93.5%), Rhodohalobacter halophilus JZ3C29T (93.2%), and ‘Rhodohalobacter mucosus’ 8A47T (92.1%). Strain WB101T formed an evident species-level clade within the genus Rhodohalobacter in both phylogenetic and phylogenomic topologies. The draft genome of strain WB101T is 5,104,032 bp in size, and the G + C content is 42.0 mol%. The genomic sequencing yields 138 contigs with an N50 value of 123,641 and a coverage depth of 275.0 ×. The strain encodes a complete assimilatory sulfate reduction pathway. The sole respiratory quinone was menaquinone 7. The dominant cellular fatty acid (≥ 10%) was iso-C15:0. The polar lipid profile of the novel isolate included diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylcholine, and phosphatidylethanolamine. Based on its phylogenetic, physiological, and biochemical properties, strain WB101T should be classified as a novel species of the genus Rhodohalobacter, for which the name Rhodohalobacter sulfatireducens sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is WB101T (= KCTC 92204T = MCCC 1H00518T).