TABLE 3.
Main characteristics of aerobic gram-positive moderately halophilic bacteriaa
| Feature |
Halobacillus
|
Bacillus
|
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| H. halophilus (33, 315) | H. litoralis (315) | H. trueperi (315) | B. halophilus (342) | B. salexigens (89) | |
| Morphology | Coccoid | Rods | Rods | Rods | Rods |
| Size (μm) | 1.0–2.0 × 2.0–3.0 | 0.7–1.1 × 2.0–4.5 | 0.7–1.4 × 2.0–4.5 | 0.5–1.0 × 2.5–9.0 | 0.3–0.6 × 1.5–3.5 |
| Pigmentation | Orange | Orange | Orange | None | None |
| Spore shape | S | E/S | E/S | E | E |
| Spore position | C/ST | C/ST | C/ST | C | ST/C |
| Sporangium swollen | − | ND | ND | − | + |
| Motility | + | + | + | + | |
| Facultative anaerobe | − | − | − | − | − |
| Oxidase | + | + | + | + | + |
| NaCl range (%) | 2–20 | 0.5–25 | 0.5–30 | 3–30 | 7–20 |
| NaCl optimum (%) | 10 | 10 | 10 | 15 | 10 |
| Temp range (°C) | 15–40 | 10–43 | 10–44 | 15–50 | 15–45 |
| pH range | 7–9 | 6–9.5 | 6–9.5 | 6–8 | 6–11 |
| Acid production from: | |||||
| Arabinose | − | ND | ND | − | ND |
| Glucose | − | + | + | + | + |
| Lactose | ND | ND | ND | − | − |
| Trehalose | − | + | + | + | − |
| Mannitol | − | + | − | − | + |
| Hydrolysis of: | |||||
| Gelatin | + | + | + | − | + |
| Casein | + | − | − | − | + |
| Starch | + | − | − | − | − |
| Esculin | − | − | − | + | + |
| Tween 80 | − | − | − | ND | − |
| DNA | + | + | + | + | + |
| H2S production | ND | ND | ND | − | + |
| Nitrate reduction | − | − | − | − | − |
| Nitrite reduction | − | − | − | − | − |
| Phosphatase | d | − | − | − | d |
| Voges-Proskauer | − | − | − | − | − |
| Menaquinone system | MK-7 | ND | ND | MK-7 | ND |
| Cell wall type | Orn–d-Asp | Orn–d-Asp | Orn–d-Asp | m-Dpm | m-Dpm |
| Type strain | DSM 2266 | DSM 10405 | DSM 10404 | ATCC 49085 | ATCC 700290 |
| Habitat | Saline soils, salterns | Great Salt Lake | Great Salt Lake | Unknown (rotting wood from seawater) | Salterns, saline soils |
| G+C content (mol%) | 40.1–40.9 | 42 | 43 | 51.5 | 36.3–39.5 |
| Phylogenetic branch | Low-G+C gram-positive | Low-G+C gram-positive | ND | ND | Low-G+C gram-positive |
|
Marinococcus
|
Salinicoccus
|
Nesterenkonia halobia (218, 316) | Tetragenococcus muriaticus (304) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| M. halophilus (111, 189) | M. albus (111) | S. roseus (344) | S. hispanicus (188, 345) | ||
| Cocci | Cocci | Cocci | Cocci | Cocci | Cocci |
| 1.0–1.2 | 1.0–1.2 | 1.0–2.5 | 1.0–2.0 | ND | 0.5–0.8 |
| Yellow-orange | None | Pink red | Reddish-orange | None or yellow | White |
| − | − | − | − | − | − |
| − | − | − | − | − | − |
| − | − | − | − | − | − |
| + | + | − | − | − | − |
| − | − | − | − | − | + |
| − | + | + | + | + | − |
| 2–25 | 2–25 | 0.9–25 | 0.5–25 | 3–25 | 1–25 |
| 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 7–10 |
| 15–37 | 15–37 | 15–40 | 15–37 | 20–40 | 15–40 |
| ND | ND | 6–9 | 5–9 | 5–10 | 5–9.6 |
| − | − | − | − | − | − |
| + | − | − | + | + | + |
| − | − | − | − | − | − |
| + | − | − | − | − | + |
| + | − | − | + | − | + |
| + | − | + | + | + | ND |
| + | − | + | − | + | ND |
| − | − | + | − | + | ND |
| + | − | − | + | + | ND |
| − | − | + | − | − | ND |
| − | + | + | + | + | ND |
| − | − | − | − | − | ND |
| − | + | − | + | − | − |
| − | − | − | + | − | − |
| − | − | + | d | − | ND |
| − | − | − | − | − | ND |
| MK-7 | MK-7 | MK-6 | MK-6 | MK-9, MK-8, MK-7 | ND |
| m-Dpm | m-Dpm | l-Lys–Gly5 | l-Lys–Gly5 | l-Lys–Gly–l-Glu | Lys–d-Asp |
| ATCC 27964 | CCM 3517 | ATCC 49258 | ATCC 49259 | ATCC 21727 | JCM 10006 |
| Salterns, saline soils | Salterns | Salterns | Salterns, saline soils | Salterns | Fermented squid liver sauce |
| 46.4 | 44.9 | 51.2 | 45.6–49.3 | ND | 36.5 |
| Low-G+C gram-positive | ND | Low-G+C gram-positive | ND | High-G+C gram-positive | ND |
a
S, spherical; E, ellipsoidal; C, central; ST, subterminal. +, positive; −, negative; d, differs among strains; ND, not determined. MK-9, MK-8, MK-7, MK-6, menaquinone with nine, eight, seven, and six isoprene units, respectively. m-Dpm, meso-diaminopimelic acid.