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. 2025 Apr 22;118(5):72.
doi: 10.1007/s10482-025-02084-x.

Gracilibacillus pellucidus sp. nov., a moderately halophilic bacterium isolated from saline soil in Xinjiang province, China

Zengqin Zhang  1   2 , Hui Wang  3 , Mengli Xia  1   2 , Wenjing Li  1   2 , Pan Zhang  1   2 , Yanwei Wang  1 , Linpei Liu  1 , Peixin Li  1   2 , Yong Zhuang  1 , Furong Tan  4
Affiliations

Gracilibacillus pellucidus sp. nov., a moderately halophilic bacterium isolated from saline soil in Xinjiang province, China

Zengqin Zhang et al. Antonie Van Leeuwenhoek. .

Abstract

A motile, Gram-positive, moderately halophilic, catalase-positive and oxidase-negative, obligate aerobic, slender rod-shaped bacterium, strain S3-1-1T was isolated from the plant rhizosphere soil in saline soil of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Strain S3-1-1T grew in the presence of 1-21% NaCl and at pH 7.0-9.0, with optimum growth at 3% NaCl and pH 7.5. It grew at 16-45 °C, with optimum growth at 40 °C.Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain S3-1-1T should be placed within the genus Gracilibacillus and formed a separate branch. It exhibited highest similarities to Gracilibacillus ureilyticus MF38T (sequence similarity 97.7%), Gracilibacillus massiliensis Awa-1T (sequence similarity 97.5%), Gracilibacillus xinjiangensis J2T (sequence similarity 97.4%) and Gracilibacillus salitolerans SCU50T (sequence similarity 97.4%). Genomic comparisons revealed that strain S3-1-1T shares closest phylogenetic relationships with Gracilibacillus saliphilus YIM 91119T (ANI 77.4%, AAI 78.4%), Gracilibacillus thailandensis TP2-8T (ANI 77.2%, AAI 78.3%), and Gracilibacillus salitolerans SCU50T (ANI 77.3%, AAI 78.1%). However, the digital DNA-DNA hybridization (19.3-22.1%), average nucleotide identity (71.1-77.4%), and average amino acid identity (66.9-78.6%) values all fell below the recommended thresholds for species delineation, supporting its novel taxonomic status. The major cellular fatty acids were anteiso-C15:0, C16:0, iso-C15:0, and anteiso-C17:0. The major polar lipids were diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol and aminophospholipids. On the basis of their phenotypic, physiological, biochemical and phylogenetic characteristics, S3-1-1T represented a novel species of the genus Gracilibacillus, for which the name Gracilibacillus pellucidus sp. nov. is proposed, with S3-1-1T (= JCM 36422T = GDMCC 1.4017T) as the type strain.

Keywords: Gracilibacillus; Gracilibacillus pellucidus; Novel species; Polyphasic taxonomy; Saline soil; Salt-tolerant.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Conflict of interest: The authors declare no competing interests. Ethical approval: This research did not contain any studies with humans. Consent for publication: The manuscript is submitted with the consent of all authors.

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