Lipingzhangella rawalii sp. nov., a novel halophile isolated from Sambhar Salt Lake, Rajasthan, India.

A haloalkaliphilic actinobacterial strain LS1_29 T , isolated from an inland hypersaline Sambhar Salt Lake, situated in Rajasthan, India, was subjected to taxonomic characterisation using the polyphasic approach. Cells of the strain were Gram stain positive and aerobic, having reticulate and aerial hyphae. The major fatty acids detected were iso C 16:0 (38.23%), anteiso C 17:0 (20.52%), iso C 18:0 10 methyl (8.09%), iso C 18:0 (7.74%) and iso C 17:0 (7.48%). The major polar lipids identified were diphosphatidyl glycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylcholine and phospholipids. Phylogenetic analysis based on the 16S rRNA gene sequence indicated that the strain belonged to the genus Lipingzhangella with the highest similarity of 94.09% to Lipingzhangella halophila EGI 80537  T and formed a separate clade within the genus Lipingzhangella. The DNA G + C content of genomic DNA of strain LS1_29 T was 67.99 mol%. The strain showed the highest orthologous average nucleotide identity (OrthoANI) value of 72.80% and digital DNA-DNA hybridization (dDDH) value of 20.3% with Lipingzhangella halophila EGI 80537  T . Based on the phenotypic, chemotaxonomic and phylogenetic characteristics, strain LS1_29 T represents a novel species within the genus Lipingzhangella, for which the name Lipingzhangella rawalii sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain of the type species is LS1_29 T (= KCTC 49199  T  = JCM 32979  T  = MCC 3420  T ).