@article{mbs:/content/journal/ijsem/10.1099/ijs.0.000151, author = "Minegishi, Hiroaki and Echigo, Akinobu and Shimane, Yasuhiro and Kamekura, Masahiro and Itoh, Takashi and Ohkuma, Moriya and Usami, Ron", title = "Halococcus agarilyticus sp. nov., an agar-degrading haloarchaeon isolated from commercial salt", journal= "International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology", year = "2015", volume = "65", number = "Pt_5", pages = "1634-1639", doi = "https://doi.org/10.1099/ijs.0.000151", url = "https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/ijsem/10.1099/ijs.0.000151", publisher = "Microbiology Society", issn = "1466-5034", type = "Journal Article", abstract = "Two agar-degrading halophilic archaeal strains, 62ET and 197A, were isolated from commercial salt samples. Cells were non-motile cocci, approximately 1.2–2.0 µm in diameter and stained Gram-negative. Colonies were pink-pigmented. Strain 62ET was able to grow with 24–30 % (w/v) NaCl (optimum, 27 %), at pH 6.5–8.5 (optimum, pH 7.5) and at 22–47 °C (optimum, 42 °C). The 16S rRNA gene sequences of strains 62ET and 197A were identical, and the level of DNA–DNA relatedness between them was 90 and 90 % (reciprocally). The closest relative was Halococcus saccharolyticus JCM 8878T with 99.7 % similarity in 16S rRNA orthologous gene sequences, followed by Halococcus salifodinae JCM 9578T (99.6 %), while similarities with other species of the genus Halococcus were equal to or lower than 95.1 %. The rpoB′ gene tree strongly supported that the two strains were members of the genus Halococcus . Mean DNA–DNA relatedness between strain 62ET and H. saccharolyticus JCM 8878T and H. salifodinae JCM 9578T was 46 and 44 %, respectively. The major polar lipids were archaeol derivatives of phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol phosphate methyl ester, derived from both C20C20 and C20C25 archaeol, and sulfated diglycosyl archaeol-1. Several unidentified glycolipids were present. Based on the phenotypic and phylogenetic analyses, the isolates are considered to represent a novel species of the genus Halococcus , for which the name Halococcus agarilyticus sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is 62ET ( = JCM 19592T = KCTC 4143T).", }