Unrecorded bacterial species from halophilic and contaminated environments in Korea: Descriptions of 33 species isolated in 2021 and 2022

Abstract

This study describes 33 previously unrecorded bacterial species strains isolated from specialized halophilic and contaminated environments in Korea. The bacterial strains were isolated from unique ecological niches, including solar saltern, mudflats, and contaminated soils from highly polluted sites such as landfills and parking lots. These habitats harbor diverse microbial communities, offering insights into bacterial adaptation and distribution. The findings contribute to the understanding of microbial diversity in extreme and anthropogenically impacted environments. Based on high 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity (>98.7%) and the formation of a robust phylogenetic clade with the closest species, each strain was determined to belong to a predefined bacterial species. There is no official report that these 33 species belonged to 4 phyla, 7 classes, 17 orders, 19 families, and 27 genera, which were assigned to Muricauda, Kaistella, Hymenobacter and Flavobacterium of the phylum Bacteroidota; Streptomyces, Rhodococcus, Rathayibacter, Nocardioides, Cryobacterium, Arthrobacter and Aeromicrobium of the phylum Actinomycetota; Thioclava, Sulfitobacter, Spiribacter, Simplicispira, Shewanella, Roseovarius, Qipengyuania, Pseudomonas, Maritalea, Marinobacter, Halomonas, Devosia, Chromohalobacter and Brevundimonas of the phylum Pseudomonadota; Virgibacillus and Alkalihalobacillus of the phylum Bacillota. Gram-staining results, colony and cell morphologies, basic biochemical characteristics, isolation sources, and strain IDs are also described in the species description section.