RT Journal Article SR Electronic(1) A1 Minegishi, Hiroaki A1 Shimogaki, Ryuta A1 Enomoto, Shigeaki A1 Echigo, Akinobu A1 Kondo, Yusuke A1 Nagaoka, Shuhei A1 Shimane, Yasuhiro A1 Kamekura, Masahiro A1 Itoh, Takashi A1 Ohkuma, Moriya A1 Nunoura, Takuro A1 Takai, Ken A1 Usami, RonYR 2016 T1 Halopiger thermotolerans sp. nov., a thermo-tolerant haloarchaeon isolated from commercial salt JF International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology, VO 66 IS 12 SP 4975 OP 4980 DO https://doi.org/10.1099/ijsem.0.001455 PB Microbiology Society, SN 1466-5034, AB Three thermo-tolerant halophilic archaeal strains, SR-441T, SR-412 and SR-188, were isolated from commercial salt samples. Cells were non-motile pleomorphic rod-shaped, and stained Gram-negative. Colonies were pink-pigmented. The three strains were able to grow with 1.7–4.6 M NaCl (optimum, 2.5 M), at pH 6.5–9.0 (optimum, pH 8.0) and at 35–60 °C (optimum, 45 °C). The orthologous 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities amongst the three strains were 98.8–99.3 %, and the level of DNA–DNA relatedness was 71–74 and 72–75 % (reciprocally). The closest relative was Halopiger aswanensis JCM 11628T with 98.6 %–99.1 % similarity in the orthologous 16S rRNA gene sequences, followed by two more Halopiger species, Halopiger xanaduensis JCM 14033T (98.5 %–99.1 %) and Halopiger salifodinae JCM 9578T (95.5 %–95.6 %). DNA–DNA relatednesses between the three strains and H. aswanensis JCM 11628T and H. xanaduensis JCM 14033T were 61 and 54 %, respectively. The polar lipids of the three novel strains were phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol phosphate methyl ester, and bis-sulfated diglycosyl archaeol-1. The most distinctive feature of the three strains was the ability to grow at 60 °C, while the maximum growth temperature of H. aswanensis is 55 °C. Based on phenotypic and phylogenetic analyses, the isolates are considered to represent a novel species of the genus Halopiger , for which the name Halopiger thermotolerans sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is SR-441T (=JCM 19583T=KCTC 4248T) isolated from solar salt produced in Australia. SR-412 (=JCM 19582) and SR-188 (=JCM 19581) isolated from commercial salt samples are additional strains of the species., UL https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/ijsem/10.1099/ijsem.0.001455