Altererythrobacter soli sp nov., isolated from desert sand

An alkaliphilic strain designed MN-1(T) was isolated from a desert sand sample collected from Tengger desert, north-western China. To delineate its taxonomic position, this Gram-stain-negative, rod-shaped, strictly aerobic bacterium was subjected to a polyphasic taxonomic study. Growth was observed at temperatures from 4 to 37 degrees C (optimum 30-32 degrees C), at salinities from 0 to 2% (optimum 1 %) and at pH from 6.5 to 12.0 (optimum 7.0-9.0). Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequencing showed that strain MN-1(T) was a member of the genus Altererythrobacter but could be distinguished from recognized species of this genus. Compared to the reference strains, the novel strain was flagellated and motile by means of polar flagella. The predominant respiratory quinone was ubiquinone-10 and the major polar lipids were diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, sphingoglycolipid, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylcholine, one unidentified glycolipid, one unidentified phospholipid and four unidentified lipids. The predominant fatty acids were C-18 : 1 omega 7c, summed feature 3 (C-16 : 1 omega 7c and/or C-16 : 1 omega 6c) and C-16 : 0. These chemotaxonomic traits were in agreement with the characteristics of the genus Altererythrobacter. Strain MN-1(T) was most closely related to Altererythrobacter xinjiangensis S363(T) (96.9% 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity), followed by Altererythrobacter dongtanensis JM27(T) (96.4 %) and Altererythrobacter marinus H32(T) (96.1 %). The G+ C content of the genomic DNA of strain MN-1(T) was 67.0 mol%. On the basis of data from this polyphasic taxonomic study, strain MN-1(T) is proposed as the type strain of a novel species of the genus Altererythrobacter, named as Altererythrobacter soli sp. nov. (= KCTC 52135(T)=MCCC 1K02066(T)).