Virgibacillus salarius sp. nov., a halophilic bacterium isolated from a Saharan salt lake Hua, Ngoc-Phuc and Hamza-Chaffai, Amel and Vreeland, Russell H. and Isoda, Hiroko and Naganuma, Takeshi,, 58, 2409-2414 (2008), doi = https://doi.org/10.1099/ijs.0.65693-0, publicationName = Microbiology Society, issn = 1466-5026, abstract= A Gram-positive, endospore-forming, rod-shaped and moderately halophilic bacterium was isolated from a salt-crust sample collected from Gharsa salt lake (Chott el Gharsa), Tunisia. The newly isolated bacterium, designated SA-Vb1T, was identified based on polyphasic taxonomy including genotypic, phenotypic and chemotaxonomic characterization. Strain SA-Vb1T was closely related to the type strains of Virgibacillus marismortui and Virgibacillus olivae, with 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities of 99.7 and 99.4 %, respectively. However, strain SA-Vb1T was distinguished from these two type strains on the basis of phenotypic characteristics and DNA–DNA relatedness (29.4 and 5.1 %, respectively). The genetic relationship between strain SA-Vb1T and Virgibacillus pantothenticus IAM 11061T (the type strain of the type species) and other type strains of the genus was 96–98 % based on 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity and 18.3–22.3 % based on DNA–DNA hybridization. Biochemical analysis resulted in determination of major fatty acids iso-C15 : 0, anteiso-C15 : 0 and anteiso-C17 : 0 (33.3, 29.2 and 9.8 %, respectively); phosphatidylglycerol, diphosphatidylglycerol and phosphatidylethanolamine were the main polar lipids and MK-7 was the predominant menaquinone (∼100 %). The distinct characteristics demonstrated by strain SA-Vb1T represent properties of a novel species of the genus Virgibacillus, for which the name Virgibacillus salarius sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is SA-Vb1T (=JCM 12946T =DSM 18441T)., language=, type=