Egibacter rhizosphaerae gen. nov., sp. nov., an obligately halophilic, facultatively alkaliphilic actinobacterium and proposal of Egibaceraceae fam. nov. and Egibacterales ord. nov.

A novel obligately halophilic, facultatively alkaliphilic actinobacterium, designated EGI 80759T, was isolated from the rhizosphere of Tamarix hispida Willd, Karamay, Xinjiang province, north-west China. Cells of strain EGI 80759T were Gram-stain-positive, non-motile and non-endospore-forming rods. Strain EGI 80759T showed obligately halophilic growth with a tolerance to 8-25 % (w/v) NaCl (optimum growth at 10-12 %, w/v) and facultatively alkaliphilic growth within the pH range 7.0-11.0 (optimum growth at pH 9.0-10.0). Cell-wall hydrolysates of the isolate contained meso-diaminopimelic acid (peptidoglycan type A1γ), with glucose, glucosamine, ribose and mannose as the major sugars. The major fatty acids identified were 10-methyl-C17 : 0, C17 : 1ω8c and C17 : 0. The predominant menaquinone was MK-9(H4). The G+C content of the genomic DNA was 72.1 mol%. Phylogenetic analysis, based on 16S rRNA gene sequences, revealed that strain EGI 80759T clustered with members of the class Nitriliruptoria and showed highest 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities with Euzebya tangerina F10T (90.3 %) and Nitriliruptor alkaliphilus ANL-iso2T (88.1 %). On the basis of the data obtained from phenotypic and chemotaxonomic studies and the phylogenetic analysis, the isolate is proposed to be a representative of a novel genus and a novel species, Egibacter rhizosphaerae gen. nov., sp. nov., of a proposed novel family, Egibacteraceae fam. nov., and order, Egibacterales ord. nov., within the class Nitriliruptoria. The type strain of the type species, Egibacter rhizosphaerae, is EGI 80759T ( = CGMCC 1.14997T = KCTC 39588T).