Haloechinothrix alba gen. nov., sp. nov., a halophilic, filamentous actinomycete of the suborder Pseudonocardineae

Abstract

A novel halophilic, filamentous actinomycete strain, designated YIM 93221T, was isolated from a salt lake in Xinjiang province, north-west China, and subjected to a polyphasic taxonomic characterization. The isolate grew with 9-23% (w/v) NaCl and did not grow without NaCl. The isolate formed spiny aerial mycelium and did not form spores at maturity. The isolate contained meso-diaminopimelic acid as the diagnostic diamino acid and glucose, glucosamine, mannose and an unknown sugar as the major whole-cell sugars. The phospholipids were diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylinositol, phosphatidylinositol mannosides and an unknown phospholipid. MK-8(H4) was the predominant menaquinone. The major fatty acid was iso-C16 : 0. The DNA G+C content was 68.1 mol%. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that strain YIM 93221T formed a distinct lineage within the suborder Pseudonocardineae and showed 91.9-94.8% 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity with members of the suborder Pseudonocardineae. On the basis of the evidence from this polyphasic study, a novel genus and species, Haloechinothrix alba gen. nov., sp. nov., are proposed. The type strain of Haloechinothrix alba is YIM 93221T (=DSM 45207T =CCTCC AB 208140T).