sp. nov., isolated from saline soil sampled at the Tarim Basin.

A halophilic archaeaon, strain LT12, was isolated from saline soil sampled at the Tarim Basin, PR China. The novel strain stained Gram-negative, cells were rod-shaped, and formed light red-pigmented colonies on agar plate. Strain LT12 grew optimally at 3.1 M NaCl, 0.05 M MgCl, 37 °C and pH 7.5. The cells lysed in distilled water and the minimal NaCl concentration to prevent cell lysis was 1.4 M. Based on the results of phylogenetic analyses of the 16S rRNA and genes, strain LT12 was most closely related to CBA1114(94.4-95.9  and 93.6 % similarities, respectively). The average nucleotide identity and DNA-DNA hybridization values between strain LT12 and CBA1114 were 81.0 and 24.3 %, respectively. The major polar lipids of strain LT12 were phosphatidic acid, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol phosphate methyl ester and three unidentified glycolipids. The DNA G+C content was 67.2 mol % (genome). Based on the phenotypic, chemotaxonomic and phylogenetic properties, strain LT12 represents a novel species of the genus for which the name sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is LT12 (=CGMCC 1.14941=JCM 30667).