Halomonas ilicicola sp. nov., a moderately halophilic bacterium isolated from a saltern

1 Departamento de Microbiología y Parasitología, Facultad de Farmacia, Universidad de Alcalá, 28871 Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain 2 Departamento de Microbiología y Parasitología, Facultad de Farmacia, Universidad de Sevilla, 41012 Sevilla, Spain Correspondence Juan Soliveri juan.soliveri{at}uah.es A Gram-negative, heterotrophic, aerobic, pale orange-pigmented, non-endospore-forming and motile bacterial strain, designated strain SP8 T , was isolated from a salty water sample from the solar salterns of Santa Pola, located on the Mediterranean coast of Spain. The strain grew optimally at 37 °C, pH 6.5 and in the presence of 10 % NaCl. A polyphasic taxonomic study was conducted in order to characterize the strain in detail. Phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rRNA gene sequence comparisons indicated that strain SP8 T clustered within the branch constituted by species of the genus Halomonas . The closest phylogenetic neighbours of strain SP8 T were Halomonas muralis LMG 20969 T (96.0 % sequence similarity), Halomonas pantelleriensis AAP T (95.9 %) and Halomonas campaniensis 5AG T (95.8 %). Phenotypic features, the fatty acid profile and the DNA G+C content of the novel strain further supported its placement in the genus Halomonas . On the basis of phenotypic, chemotaxonomic and phylogenetic distinctiveness, it is suggested that strain SP8 T represents a novel species for which the name Halomonas ilicicola sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is SP8 T (=CECT 7331 T =CCM 7522 T =DSM 19980 T ). Abbreviations: SEM, scanning electron microscopy The GenBank/EMBL/DDBJ accession number for the 16S rRNA gene sequence of strain SP8 T is EU218533 . Additional phylogenetic trees based on neighbour-joining and maximum-likelihood analysis of the 16S rRNA gene sequences of strain SP8 T and closely related species are available with the online version of this paper.