Caenispirillum deserti sp. nov., a spheroplast-forming bacterium isolated from a salt desert.

A Gram-stain-negative, vibrio-shaped, spheroplast-forming, motile, aerobic bacterium was isolated from the soil of a salt desert in Kutch, Gujarat, India. The strain, designated JC232(T), was oxidase- and catalase-positive. 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis indicated that strain JC232(T) was a member of the genus Caenispirillum and was related most closely to Caenispirillum salinarum AK4(T) (98.9% similarity) and Caenispirillum bisanense K92(T) (96.8%). Genome relatedness based on DNA-DNA hybridization of strain JC232(T) with the type strains of closely related species was less than 40%. The DNA G+C content of strain JC232(T) was 70 mol%. Phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphotidylcholine, diphosphatidylglycerol, two unidentified amino lipids (AL1 and 2) and four unidentified lipids (UL1-4) were the polar lipids of strain JC232(T). C18 : 1ω7c/C18 : 1ω6c, C16 : 0 and C16 : 1ω7c/C16 : 1ω6c were the major (>15%) fatty acids of strain JC232(T), with minor amounts of C12 : 0, C14 : 0 3-OH/iso-C16 : 0 I, C18 : 1 2-OH, C18 : 0, C16 : 0 3-OH and C19 : 0cycloω8c. Although strain JC232(T) shared the predominant ubiquinone system (Q10) with the type strains of C. salinarum and C. bisanense, it differed from the latter in polar lipid profile, NaCl growth range and other phenotypic/physiological properties. On the basis of morphological, physiological, genotypic, phylogenetic and chemotaxonomic analyses, strain JC232(T) is considered to represent a novel species of the genus Caenispirillum, for which the name Caenispirillum deserti sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is JC232(T) ( = KCTC 42064(T) = NBRC 110150(T)).