Georgenia alba sp. nov., a novel halotolerant actinobacterium isolated from a desert sand sample.

Strain SYSU D8008 was isolated from a desert sand sample collected from Saudi Arabia. The strain was observed to be Gram-stain positive, non-motile and aerobic. It can grow at 15-37 °C, pH 6.0-10.0 and can tolerant up to 7% (w/v) NaCl. Pairwise comparison of the 16S rRNA gene sequence indicated that strain SYSU D8008 shares high sequence similarities with Georgenia deserti SYSU D8004 (96.8%) and Georgenia halophila YIM 93316 (96.8%). Menaquinone MK-8(H) was detected as the respiratory isoprenologue. The polar lipid profile of strain SYSU D8008 was found to consist of diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylinositol, two phosphatidylinositol mannosides, an unidentified glycolipid and an unidentified phospholipid. Strain SYSU D8008 was found to contain anteiso-C and iso-C as the predominant fatty acids. Galactose, glucose and rhamnose were detected as the whole cell sugars. Based on the phenotypic, genotypic and phylogenetic characteristics, strain SYSU D8008 can be differentiated from other closely related members of the genus Georgenia. The strain SYSU D8008, therefore, is concluded to represent a novel species of the genus Georgenia, for which the name Georgenia alba sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is SYSU D8008 (= CGMCC 1.15800 = KCTC 39988).