Diversity And Phylogeny Of Halophilic Microorganism In A Salt Rock Of Xinjiang, Baicheng

Totally 56 aerobic or facultative anaerobic halophilic microorganism isolates obtained from 1 soil sample and 6 warter samples collected from a salt rock of Xinjiang Baicheng, China. Most of the isolates are moderately halophilic or halotorant, and thereinto, white and yellow colonies are dominant, while red colonies are also plurality. Cells of the isolates are mainly cocci or rod-shaped, and approximately 76.8% of the strains are Gram-negative.Based on the morphological, physiological and biochemical investigation, twenty-four strains were selected for phylogenetic analysis using their 16S rRNA gene sequences. The results showed that the representative strains could be allocated into three Glades: 8 strains of gammaproteobacteria (33%), 7strains of Firmicute (low GC gram-positive bacteria) (29%), and 9 strains of halophilic archaea (38%). Additionally, some new species candidates were found based on similarities of the 16S rDNA sequences to previously published species. It was considered that BC1, is a novel species of the genus Bacillus; BC2, is a novel species of the genus Halomonas, and BC6 is a novel species of the genus Alkalibacillus.Culture-independent molecular techniques was also been used in this study. The results indicated that same uncultured stains belonging to genus Geobacillu, genus Marinobacter, and genus Enterobacter would existed in the soil sample.This study will provide basic data for halophiles in Xinjiang Baicheng. Although the results showed remarkable microbial diversity, the discovery of novel species and strains of Bacillus, Halomonas and Alkalibacillus, in the relatively small number of sites from the salt rock of Baicheng, indicated that there is still much to be learned about the diversity of these halophilic microorganisms.