Aliifodinibius roseus gen. nov., sp. nov., and Aliifodinibius sediminis sp. nov., two moderately halophilic bacteria isolated from salt mine samples.

Two rod-shaped, non-motile bacteria were isolated from two separate salt mines in Yunnan, south-western China. These strains, designated YIM D15(T) and YIM J21(T), were Gram-negative and moderately halophilic. The two strains required 6-10 % NaCl (w/v; optimal) for growth. The DNA G+C contents of strains YIM D15(T) and YIM J21(T) were 49.0 mol% and 48.4 mol%, respectively. The predominant isoprenoid quinone was MK-7. The polar lipid profiles of strains YIM D15(T) and YIM J21(T) were composed predominantly of diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylethanolamine, three unknown polar lipids and one glycolipid. Minor amounts of other lipids were also detectable. The predominant cellular fatty acids were iso-C15 : 0, anteiso-C15 : 0, iso-C17 : 1ω9c/10 methyl-C16 : 0 and C16 : 1ω7c/C16 : 1ω6c. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequence comparisons showed that the two isolates formed a distinct clade with the genus Fodinibius (in the phylum Bacteroidetes) and were related to the species Fodinibius salinus, with sequence similarities of 91.9-92.4 %. Analyses of 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that strains YIM D15(T) and YIM J21(T) were related to each other (97.3 % sequence similarity). The DNA-DNA hybridization relatedness between the two isolates was 34 %. On the basis of the phylogenetic analysis, DNA-DNA hybridization relatedness, phenotypic and chemotaxonomic characteristics, strains YIM D15(T) and YIM J21(T) should be classified as members of a novel genus and as two novel species, for which the names Aliifodinibius roseus gen. nov., sp. nov. (type strain YIM D15(T) = ACCC 10715(T) = KCTC 23442(T)) and Aliifodinibius sediminis sp. nov. (type strain YIM J21(T) = ACCC 10714(T) = DSM 21194(T)) are proposed.