Reclassification of Facklamia ignava, Facklamia sourekii and Facklamia tabacinasalis as Falseniella ignava gen. nov., comb. nov., Hutsoniella sourekii gen. nov., comb. nov., and Ruoffia tabacinasalis gen. nov., comb. nov., and description of Ruoffia halotolerans sp. nov., isolated from hypersaline Inland Sea of Qatar.

A Gram-stain-positive, non-pigmented, coccus-shaped, facultatively anaerobic and α-hemolytic bacterium designated as INB8 was isolated from a hypersaline marine water sample collected at the Inland Sea of Qatar. The isolate was able to grow at 25-40 °C (optimum, 30 °C), at pH 5-11 and with 2-8% NaCl. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that strain INB8 was placed within the family Aerococcaceae with the highest sequence similarity to Facklamia tabacinasalis CCUG 30090 (99.5%), followed by Facklamia hominis CCUG 36813 (93.9%), Facklamia sourekii Y17312 (93.8%), Facklamia ignava CCUG 37419 (93.6%), Facklamia miroungae CCUG 42728 (93.5%), Suicoccus acidiformans ZY16052 (93.5%), Facklamia languida CCUG 37842 (93.2%), Ignavigranum ruoffiae (93.1%), and Dolosicoccus paucivorans DSM 15742 (90.8%). Average nucleotide identity and digital DNA-DNA hybridization values between strain INB8 and F. tabacinasalis CCUG 30090 were determined to be 94.5% and 58.9% respectively, confirming strain INB8 represents a novel species. The major fatty acids were C C C and C ω9c The G + C content of strain INB8 determined from the genome was 36.3 mol%. Based on the phylogenetic, chemotaxonomic and phenotypic information, it is proposed that Facklamia tabacinasalis should be reclassified as Ruoffia tabacinasalis, Facklamia ignava be reclassified as Falseniella ignava, and Facklamia sourekii be reclassified Hutsoniella sourekii. It is further proposed that strain INB8 should be classified as a species of the genus Ruoffia for which the name Ruoffia halotolerans sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is INB8 (= LMG 30291 = CCUG 70701 = QCC/B60/17).