A novel facultatively anaerobic halotolerant strain C05BenzNT was isolated from a terrestrial mud volcano Gnilaya Gora (Taman Peninsula, Russia). Cells were rod-shaped, motile and Gram-stain-negative. The temperature range for growth was 14–42°C (optimum at 25°C). The pH range for growth was 7.5–11.0 (optimum at pH 8.0). NaCl range for growth constituted up to 20% with the optimum 2.0–3.0%. Strain C05BenzNT grew aerobically, microaerobically with 1% O2 or anaerobically with nitrate as an electron acceptor. Carbohydrates, proteinaceous substrates, organic acids and various aromatic compounds were used as electron donors during aerobic growth and acetate under microaerobic and anaerobic conditions. The G+C content of the genomic DNA was 67.4%. The fatty acid profile of strain C05BenzNT was characterized by the presence of C18:1 cis11, C16:1 cis9, C16:0 as the major components. The strain possessed genes related to variable carbon and nitrogen metabolism, hinting at its substantial metabolic flexibility. The results of phylogenetic analysis based on 120 bacterial single copy conservative marker genes revealed that the closest phylogenetic relatives of strain C05BenzNT were Halomonas heilongjiangensis, Halomonas flagellata and Halomonas kalidii (with ANI range 88.4–88.6%). Based on the phenotypic, genotypic and phylogenetic characteristics of the isolate, strain C05BenzNT is considered to represent a novel species of the genus Halomonas, with proposed name Halomonas terrestris sp. nov. The type strain of Halomonas terrestris is C05BenzNT (=KCTC 8548T = CGMCC 1.61916T).
Khomyakova et al. (Sun,) studied this question.