Salinivibrio proteolyticus sp. nov., a moderately halophilic and proteolytic species from a hypersaline lake in Iran

1 Extremophiles Lab., Dept of Microbiology, Faculty of Biology, College of Science, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran 2 DSMZ – German Collection of Micro-organisms and Cell Cultures, Braunschweig, Germany 3 IBB Center, Tehran University, Tehran, Iran Correspondence Mohammad Ali Amoozegar amozegar{at}khayam.ut.ac.ir A novel moderately halophilic, Gram-negative, curved-rod-shaped bacterium, designated strain AF-2004 T , was isolated from Bakhtegan Lake, a hypersaline lake with 17 % (w/v) total salt located in the southern region of Iran. Strain AF-2004 T was a facultative anaerobe, motile by one polar flagellum, non-sporulating and oxidase- and catalase-positive. It grew at salinities of 1–17 % (w/v) NaCl, showing optimal growth at 5 % (w/v). Growth occurred at 10.0–45.0 °C and pH 5.0–9.5, with optimum growth at 32.0–35.0 °C and pH 8.0–8.5. Phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rRNA gene sequence comparisons indicated that strain AF-2004 T is a member of the genus Salinivibrio . Strain AF-2004 T had C 18 : 1 7 c (31.6 %), C 16 : 1 7 c (22.1 %) and C 16 : 0 (20.7 %) as the predominant fatty acids and Q-8 as the major respiratory lipoquinone. The DNA G+C content was 49.5 mol%, which is in the range of values for members of the genus Salinivibrio . On the basis of differentiation from Salinivibrio costicola by phenotypic and chemotaxonomic characteristics, 16S rRNA sequence analysis and DNA–DNA relatedness, it is proposed that strain AF-2004 T (=DSM 19052 T =CIP 109598 T ) should be placed in the genus Salinivibrio as the type strain of a novel species, Salinivibrio proteolyticus sp. nov. The GenBank/EMBL/DDBJ accession number for the 16S rRNA gene sequence of strain AF-2004 T is DQ092443 .