Halomonas shengliensis sp. nov., a moderately halophilic, denitrifying, crude-oil-utilizing bacterium

A moderately halophilic bacterium, designated strain SL014B-85^T, was isolated from a crude-oil-contaminated saline soil from Shengli oilfield, Shandong Province, China. Cells were Gram-negative, aerobic, short rods with lateral flagella. Growth occurred at NaCl concentrations of 015 % (optimum 515 %), at 1042 °C (optimum 30 °C) and at pH 8.09.0 (optimum pH 8.5). The only respiratory quinone was Q9, and the main cellular fatty acids were C_{18 : 1}ω7c, C_{16 : 0} and C_{19 : 0} cyclo ω8c. The G+C content of the DNA was 66.6 mol%. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that strain SL014B-85^T belonged to the genus Halomonas in the Gammaproteobacteria, with highest sequence similarity of 98.1 and 97.8 % to Halomonas alimentaria DSM 15356^T and Halomonas ventosae DSM 15911^T, respectively. DNADNA relatedness values were below 40 % with members of closely related Halomonas species. Results of phenotypic, biochemical and phylogenetic analyses revealed that strain SL014B-85^T could be classified as representing a novel species of the genus Halomonas, for which the name Halomonas shengliensis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is SL014B-85^T (=CGMCC 1.6444^T=LMG 23897^T).