Deinococcus phoenicis sp. nov., an extreme ionizing-radiation-resistant bacterium isolated from the Phoenix Lander assembly facility

A bacterial strain, designated 1P10MET, which was resistant to extreme doses of ionizing radiation, pale-pink, non-motile, and a tetrad-forming coccoid was isolated from a cleanroom at the Kennedy Space Center, where the Phoenix spacecraft was assembled. Strain 1P10MET showed optimum growth at 30 °C, with a pH range for growth of 6.5–9.0 and was highly sensitive to sodium chloride, growing only in medium with no added NaCl. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that strain 1P10MET represents a novel member of the genus Deinococcus, with low sequence similarities (8 kGy) and UV (D10 >1000 Jm−2). The results of our polyphasic taxonomic analyses suggest that strain 1P10MET represents a novel species of the genus Deinococcus, for which the name Deinococcus phoenicis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is 1P10MET ( = NRRL B-59546T = DSM 27173T).