Sinococcus qinghaiensis gen. nov., sp. nov., a novel member of the order Bacillales from a saline soil in China

A Gram-positive, non-spore-forming isolate, designated YIM 70212 T , was isolated from a hypersaline soil sample collected from Qinghai, north-west China. Cells of the isolate were orange-pigmented, motile cocci with multiple flagella. A polyphasic taxonomic investigation was carried out on the isolate. The organism grew at 10‐45 6C and pH 7?5‐11?0, with optimum growth at 28 6C and pH 8?0‐9?5. Strain YIM 70212 T grew optimally in the presence of 10% NaCl, KCl or MgCl2.6H2O and growth was observed in 1‐25% NaCl, KCl or MgCl2.6H2O. The peptidoglycan type was A1c. Ribose and minor amounts of galactose were detected as the whole-cell sugars. MK-5 was the only menaquinone. The major cellular fatty acids were ai-C15:0 (52?4%) and ai-C17:0 (26?5%). The DNA G+C content was 47?0 mol%. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that strain YIM 70212 T formed a distinct lineage within the order Bacillales and was most closely related to members of the genus Marinococcus, showing 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity levels of 91?0‐91?4%. Based on the high 16S rRNA gene sequencedivergenceanddifferencesinphenotypiccharacteristics,itisproposedthattheunknown strain be classified in a novel genus and species with the name Sinococcus qinghaiensis gen. nov., sp. nov.; the type strain of Sinococcus qinghaiensis is YIM 70212 T (=KCTC 3943 T =DSM 17008 T ).