Chromohalobacter nigrandesensis sp. nov., a moderately halophilic, Gram-negative bacterium isolated from Lake Tebenquiche on the Atacama Saltern, Chile

Abstract

A total of 52 strains of moderately halophilic bacteria isolated from hypersaline sediment of Lake Tebenquiche on the Atacama Saltern, Chile, were subjected to a taxonomic study. The morphological, physiological, biochemical and nutritional characteristics of the strains matched those described for the genus Chromohalobacter. Cells were Gram-negative, non-spore-forming, rod-shaped and motile. A black pigmentation was produced. One strain, designated LTS-4NT, grew optimally at 32 °C. Growth occurred in media containing 0·5–25 % (w/v) total salts; the optimum was 7·5 % (w/v) total salts. The pH range for growth was 5–10. The G+C content of the DNA of strain LTS-4NT was 59·8 mol%. Analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity revealed that strain LTS-4NT was closely related to Chromohalobacter species; however, DNA–DNA hybridization of representative strain LTS-4NT failed to associate the strain with any species of the genus Chromohalobacter with validly published names. Therefore, the name Chromohalobacter nigrandesensis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is LTS-4NT (=CECT 5315T=DSM 14323T).

Optimization of culture conditions for the production of halothermophilic protease from halophilic bacterium Chromohalobacter sp. TVSP101

“…All of these species are moderately halophilic, aerobic, motile, Gram-negative, heterotrophic rods. Prado et al (2006) have isolated Chromohalobacter nigrandesensis and compared its properties with the above known species and found that it was closely related to Chromohalobacter species. A few extracellular halotolerant enzymes from Chromohalobacter species with great potential for use in industrial process have been characterized (Ventosa et al 1995(Ventosa et al , 1988.…”

Halophilic bacteria are colonizing the exhibition areas of the Capuchin Catacombs in Palermo, Italy

“…Moderately halophilic bacteria grow optimally in media containing 3–15 % (w/v) salt, but they can also grow at as high concentrations as 25 % (Ventosa et al 1998). This is the case of the species of Idiomarina , Halomonas , Oceanobacillus , Virgibacillus, Marinococcus and Chromohalobacter (Gurtner et al 2000; Heyrman and Swings 2001; Heyrman et al 2002, 2003; Ivanova et al 2000; Lu et al 2001; Maturrano et al 2006; Peng et al 2009; Prado et al 2006; Ripka et al 2006; Romano et al 2006; Wang et al 2008; Yoon et al 2004) and some species of the genera Bacillus and Staphylococcus (El-Rahman et al 2002; Heyrman and Swings 2001; Jeong et al 2013) that showed to be the closest relatives of the strains isolated in this study. Interestingly, the Nesterenkonia species were only isolated in media containing 20 % NaCl, in spite of the fact that they are considered to be moderately halophilic (Li et al 2008).…”

Molecular cloning and functional characterization of  the genes encoding benzoate and p-hydroxybenzoate degradation by the halophilic Chromohalobacter sp. strain HS-2

“…Moderately halophilic bacteria are widely distributed and are suspected to play an important role in the ecology of hypersaline habitats (Ventosa et al, 1998;Oren, 2002;Vargas & Nieto, 2004;Garcia et al, 2005b). There are currently as many as nine Chromohalobacter species reported in the literature (Garcia-Estepa et al, 2006;Peçonek et al, 2006;Prado et al, 2006;Aguilera et al, 2007), but none of these have been described as strains able to degrade aromatic compounds.…”