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Alkalimonas amylolytica gen. nov., sp. nov., and Alkalimonas delamerensis gen. nov., sp. nov., novel alkaliphilic bacteria from soda lakes in China and East Africa

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Abstract

Two related novel alkaliphilic and slightly halophilic bacteria are described. They are strain N10 from Lake Chahannor in China and strain 1E1 from Lake Elmenteita in East Africa. Both strains are strictly aerobic, heterotrophic, alkaliphilic, mesophilic, and require NaCl for growth. The optimal conditions for growth were at pH 10–10.5 and 2–3% (w/v) NaCl. Cells of both strains were Gram-negative, rod-shaped, non-spore-forming, and motile with a single polar flagellum. Cellular fatty acids in both strains were predominantly saturated and mono-unsaturated straight-chain fatty acids (16:0, 16:1ω7c and 18:1ω7c). The major isoprenoid quinone of both strains was Q8. The major polar lipids are phosphatidylglycerol, diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol phosphate and phosphatidylethanolamine. The guanine plus cytosine (G+C) content of the DNA was 52.5 mol% and 55.4 mol%, respectively. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the two strains formed a distinct lineage within the gamma-3 subclass of the Proteobacteria. The strains shared a 16S rDNA sequence similarity of 96.1% and showed less than 93.7% of sequence similarity to any other known species. Based on polyphasic data, the two strains were differentiated from currently recognized genera and represent a new genus, Alkalimonas gen. nov., with two species, Alkalimonas amylolytica sp. nov. (type strain is N10T = AS 1.3430) and Alkalimonas delamerensis sp. nov. ( type strain is 1E1P, T = CBS 391.94). The GenBank accession numbers for the 16S rRNA gene sequence of strains N10 and 1E1 are AF250323 and X92130, respectively.

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Acknowledgments

Part of this study was supported by grants from the Knowledge Innovation Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese National Programs for High Technology Research and Development (863 programs), the European Commission (“Biotechnology of Extremophiles”, contract no. BIO2-CT93-0274 and “Multigenome Access Technology for Industrial Catalysts”, contract no. QLK3-CT-2002-01972). We are grateful to Professor Hans Trüper for his assistance with the correct names and etymologies of the strains.

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  1. Robert P. van Steenbergen

    Present address: DSM Anti-Infectives, PO Box 452, 2600AK, Delft, The Netherlands

Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Microbial Resources, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100080, Beijing, China

    Yanhe Ma & Yanfen Xue

  2. Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Leicester, University Road, PO Box 138, Leicester, LE1 9HN, UK

    William D. Grant, Nadine C. Collins & Andrew W. Duckworth

  3. Genencor International, Archimedesweg 30, 2333CN, Leiden, The Netherlands

    Robert P. van Steenbergen & Brian E. Jones

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  1. Yanhe Ma
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Correspondence to William D. Grant.

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Communicated by K. Horikoshi

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Ma, Y., Xue, Y., Grant, W.D. et al. Alkalimonas amylolytica gen. nov., sp. nov., and Alkalimonas delamerensis gen. nov., sp. nov., novel alkaliphilic bacteria from soda lakes in China and East Africa. Extremophiles 8, 193–200 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00792-004-0377-4

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