sp. nov., sp. nov. and sp. nov., Isolated Nearby the Tabernas Desert (Almería, Spain).

Three novel Gram-positive, aerobic, chemoheterotrophic, motile, non-endospore-forming, orange-pigmented bacteria designated strains T13, T90 and R8 were isolated from the Tabernas Desert biocrust (Almería, Spain). Cells of the three strains were coccus-shaped and occurred singly, in pairs or clusters. The three strains were oxidase-negative and catalase-positive, and showed a mesophilic, neutrophilic and non-halophilic metabolism. Based on the 16S rRNA gene sequences, the closest neighbours of strains T13, T90 and R8 were IFO 15268, YIM 121300 and SRS 30216 (98.5%, 97.1% and 97.9% gene sequence similarity, respectively). The genomes were sequenced, and have been deposited in the GenBank/EMBL/DDBJ databases under the accession numbers JAAALL000000000, JAAALM000000000 and JAAALN000000000, respectively, for strains T13, T90 and R8. The average nucleotide identity (ANIb) and digital DNA-DNA hybridization (dDDH) values confirmed their adscription to three new species within the genus . The genomic G + C content of strains T13, T90 and R8 ranged from 75.1% to 76.3%. The predominant fatty acid of all three strains was anteiso-C. According to a polyphasic study, strains T13, T90 and R8 are representatives of three new species in the genus , for which names sp. nov. (type strain T13 = CECT 9936 = DSM 110024), sp. nov. (type strain T90 = CECT 9938 = DSM 110026) and sp. nov. (type strain R8 = CECT 9937 = DSM 110025) are proposed.