Halococcus thailandensis sp. nov., from fish sauce in Thailand

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Abstract
Fifteen strains of red-pigmented, strictly aerobic, coccoid, extremely halophilic archaea were isolated from fish sauce (nam-pla) produced in Thailand. They grew optimally at 37 °C, pH 6–8 and in the presence of 20–30 % (w/v) NaCl. The DNA G+C contents of the isolates were 60.0–61.8 mol%. They had MK-8(H2) as a major menaquinone component and C20C20and C20C25derivatives of phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol methylphosphate and a sulfated glycolipid, S-DGA-1, as major polar lipid components. 16S rRNA gene sequence comparisons revealed that a representative strain, HDB5-2T, was affiliated withHalococcus dombrowskiiJCM 12289T,Halococcus qingdaonensisJCM 13587TandHalococcus morrhuaeJCM 8876T(levels of similarity of 98.2–98.7 %). Based on data from DNA–DNA hybridization experiments, the 15 strains represented a single species, showing hybridization values of >78.9 % to representative strain HDB5-2T, but were unrelated to eitherHalococcus dombrowskiiJCM 12289TorHalococcus morrhuaeJCM 8876T, with levels of relatedness of Halococcus. The 15 strains are thus considered to represent a novel species of the genusHalococcus, for which the nameHalococcus thailandensissp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is HDB5-2T(=BCC 20213T=JCM 13552T=PCU 278T).