Salinicoccus siamensis sp. nov., isolated from fermented shrimp paste in Thailand

Fifteen strains of moderately halophilic, Gram-positive cocci were isolated from a traditional fermented shrimp paste ('ka-pi') produced in Thailand. These bacteria were strictly aerobic, non-motile, non-sporulating and catalase- and oxidase-positive. They produced orange pigment and grew in the presence of 1.5-25 % (w/v) NaCl. They grew optimally in 10 % (w/v) NaCl, at pH 8.5 and at 37 degrees C. The cell-wall peptidoglycan was of l-Lys type. Menaquinone with six isoprene units (MK-6) was a major component. The dominant cellular fatty acids were anteiso-C(15 : 0) and iso-C(15 : 0). DNA G+C contents were in the range 44.5-47.5 mol%. Comparative 16S rRNA gene sequence analyses indicated that representative strain PN1-2(T) was related most closely to Salinicoccus roseus JCM 14630(T), with 97.3 % similarity. The other novel strains were included in the same species based on their levels of DNA-DNA relatedness to strain PN1-2(T) (> or =76.6 %) but showed low DNA-DNA relatedness to S. roseus JCM 14630(T) (21.7 %). On the basis of the phenotypic and molecular data presented, the 15 novel strains are suggested to represent a single novel species of the genus Salinicoccus, for which the name Salinicoccus siamensis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is PN1-2(T) (=JCM 12822(T) =PCU 242(T) =TISTR 1562(T)).