sp. nov. and sp. nov., isolated from salted brown alga .

Three rod-shaped halophilic archaeal strains, DL-M4, LYG-109 and DLLS-108, were isolated from the salted brown alga produced in different marine areas of PR China. Cells of strains were motile, formed red-pigmented colonies on agar and lysed in distilled water. The three strains grew optimally with 2.6 M NaCl, with 0.05-0.3 M MgCl, at 37 °C and at pH 7.0-7.5. The results of phylogenetic analyses based on the 16S rRNA and genes differentiated these strains into two clusters belonging to the genus , which currently contains CBA1114 and LT12. Strains DL-M4 and LYG-109 formed a single cluster separate from the current two members of (94.4-95.7 and 90.0-90.9 % similarities, respectively) while strain DLLS-108 had CBA1114 as its nearest neighbour (97.7-97.8 and 95.9 % similarities, respectively) and was separated from LT12 (94.4-95.8 and 93.4 % similarities, respectively). These clusters represented two distinct novel species as indicated by phenotypic characteristics, polar lipid compositions and whole-genome comparisons. Diverse phenotypic characteristics, morphology and growth characteristics, nutrition and miscellaneous biochemical tests differentiate strains DL-M4, LYG-109, DLLS-108 from LT12 and CBA1114. Strains DL-M4 and LYG-109 contained phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol phosphate methyl ester and three unidentified glycolipids, while strain DLLS-108 contained these polar lipids and two unidentified phospholipids. The major respiratory quinones detected in the three isolates were menaquinone MK-8 and MK-8(H). The average nucleotide identity (ANI) and DNA-DNA hybridization (isDDH) values between the isolated strains and the current two members of were found to be 79.3-86.6 (ANI) and 22.9-49.8 % (isDDH). All these results showed that the three isolates represent two novel species of the genus for which the names sp. nov. [type strain dl-M4 (=CGMCC 1.13603=JCM 32954)] and sp. nov. [type strain DLLS-108(=CGMCC 1.13610=JCM 32955)] are proposed.