sp. nov. and sp. nov., halotolerant bacteria isolated from a saltern environment.

Two aerobic, Gram-stain-positive, spore-forming motile bacterial strains, designated SSPM10-3 and SSWR10-1, were isolated from salterns in Jeollanam province of South Korea. Both strains were halotolerant and grew well in 5 % NaCl but not in 20 and 25% NaCl, respectively. Optimal growth was observed with 5 % NaCl, at 30 °C and at pH 7.0-8.0. On the basis of the results of phylogenetic analysis using 16S rRNA gene sequence, both the strains were placed within the genus with (98.65 % similarity) as their nearest neighbour. Menaquinone-7 (MK-7) (97 %) was the major isoprenoid quinone in both strains and major cellular fatty acids were anteiso-C, iso-C and anteiso-C. Orthologous average nucleotide identity with usearch (OrthoANIu) and digital DNA-DNA hybridisation (dDDH) percentage comparison indicated that SSPM10-3 and SSWR10-1 exhibited highest similarity with Awa-1 at 74.27 % and 21.0 and 74.23 % and 20.0 %, respectively. The DNA G+C contents of the strains were 39.1 % (SSPM10-3) and 38.5 % (SSWR10-1). Members of the genus , both strains were distinct from each other with respect to their ability to produce urease, β-glucosidase, assimilation of inulin and methyl-α-d-glucopyranoside and degradation of casein. Compared with each other, ANI and d4 dDDH calculations were only 88.2 % and 36.3 %, well below the cut-off values for species delineation for each index. On the basis of their phenotypic, physiological, biochemical and phylogenetic characteristics,SSPM10-3 and SSWR10-1 represent distinct novel species for which names SSPM10-3 and SSWR10-1 are proposed. The type strains are SSPM10-3 (=KACC 21933 =NBRC 115502) and SSWR10-1 (=KACC 21934 =NBRC 115503).