Bacillus lonarensis sp. nov. an alkalitolerant bacterium isolated from a soda lake

Abstract

A novel Gram-stain-positive, rod-shaped, motile and endospore-forming novel bacterial strain 25nlgT was isolated from Lonar soda lake, in India. Based on the 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, it was identified as a member of Firmicutes, being most closely related to Bacillus patagoniensis PAT 05T (96.6 %) and other members in the genus Bacillus ( < 96.0 %). Strain 25nlgT was catalase and oxidase-positive. The strain grows optimally at a pH of 9.5 with 4–6 % (w/v) NaCl and temperature of 35–37 °C. The cell wall of the strain 25nlgT contains meso-diaminopimelic acid as the diagnostic amino acid. Polar lipids include diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, an unknown phospholipid (PL2), an aminophospholipid (APL2) and three unknown lipids (L2–4). The predominant isoprenoid quinone was MK-7. iso-C15:0 (41.7 %) was the predominant fatty acid, and significant proportions of anteiso-C15:0 (20.8 %), C12:0 (5.5 %), anteiso-C17:0 (4.9 %), iso-C17:0 (4.5 %) were also detected in the strain 25nlgT. The DNA G+C content of the strain 25nlgT was 40.5 mol%. The results of molecular, physiological and biochemical tests allowed a clear phenotypic differentiation of strain 25nlgT from all other members of the genus Bacillus. Strain 25nlgT represents a novel member of the genus Bacillus, for which the name Bacillus lonarensis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is 25nlgT (=KCTC 33413T = LMG 27974T = CGMCC = 1.12817T).