Chromohalobacter sarecensis sp. nov., a psychrotolerant moderate halophile isolated from the saline Andean region of Bolivia

Abstract

A moderately halophilic, aerobic, motile, Gram-negative, rod-shaped bacterium (strain LV4T) was isolated from saline soil around the lake Laguna Verde in the Bolivian Andes. The organism is a heterotroph, able to utilize various carbohydrates as a carbon source. It showed tryptophan deaminase, oxidase and catalase activity, but was unable to produce indole or H2S; nitrate was not reduced. The G+C content of the genomic DNA was 56·1 mol%. The pH range for growth was 5–10, temperature range was 0–45 °C and the range of NaCl concentrations was 0–25 % (w/v). On the basis of 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, strain LV4T was found to be closely related to Chromohalobacter canadensis DSM 6769T and Pseudomonas beijerinckii DSM 7218T; however, its DNA–DNA relatedness with these type strains was low. Strain LV4T resembled other Chromohalobacter species with respect to various physiological, biochemical and nutritional characteristics but also exhibited differences. Thus, a novel species, Chromohalobacter sarecensis sp. nov., is proposed, with LV4T (=CCUG 47987T=ATCC BAA-761T) as the type strain.