Amycolatopsis salitolerans sp. nov., a filamentous actinomycete isolated from a hypersaline habitat

Abstract

A novel actinomycete strain, designated TRM F103^T, was isolated from a hypersaline habitat of the Tarim basin in Xinjiang province, north-west China. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that the isolate belonged to the genus Amycolatopsis and was most closely related to Amycolatopsis halophila YIM 93223^T (99.3 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity). However, DNA–DNA relatedness between these two strains, based on triplicate experiments, was only 31.6 %. The isolate contained meso-diaminopimelic acid and ribose, glucose and galactose as the major whole-cell sugars. The predominant menaquinone was MK-8(H₄). The major fatty acids were iso-C_16 : 0 and C_16 : 0. The polar lipids were diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylmethylethanolamine, phosphatidylethanolamine and glucosamine-containing phospholipids. The G+C content of the genomic DNA was 66.4 mol%. The phenotypic data clearly distinguished the isolate from its closest relatives. The combined phylogenetic, chemotaxonomic and phenotypic data indicate that the isolate represents a novel species of the genus Amycolatopsis. The proposed name is Amycolatopsis salitolerans sp. nov., with TRM F103^T ( = JCM 15899^T = CCTCC AB 208326^T) as the type strain.