Haloterax prahovense sp nov., an extremely halophilic archaeon isolated from a Romanian salt lake

A novel halophilic archaeon, strain TL6(T), was isolated from Telega Lake, a hypersaline environment in Prahova county, Romania. Strain TL6(T) was able to grow in media with a salt concentration of between 2.5 and 5.2 M, with optimum growth at a concentration of 3.5 M. The novel strain was able to grow at concentrations of 1 M MgCl2 or less, with an optimum of 0.4 M Mg2+. Growth of the novel strain occurred between pH 6.0 and 8.5, with an optimum of pH 7.0-7.5. The G + C content of the total DNA was 63.7 mol%. The 16S rRNA gene sequence of the novel strain was most closely related to species of the genus Haloferax (97.3-99.3% sequence similarity). The lipid profile of the novel strain corresponded to that of other species belonging to the genus Haloferax. A comparative analysis of the phenotypic properties and DNA-DNA hybridization between the novel strain and other species of the genus Haloferax strongly supported the conclusion that strain TL6(T) represents a novel species within this genus, for which the name Haloferax prahovense sp. nov., is proposed. The type strain is TL6(T) (= JCM 13924(T) = DSM 18310(T)).