Belnapia mucosa sp. nov. and Belnapia arida sp. nov., isolated from desert biocrust

Two novel Gram-staining-negative, aerobic, cocci-shaped, non-motile, non-spore forming, pink-pigmented bacteria designated strains T6T and T18T, were isolated from a biocrust (biological soil crust) sample from the vicinity of the Tabernas Desert (Spain). Both strains were catalase-positive and oxidase-negative, and grew under mesophilic, neutrophilic and non-halophilic conditions. According to the 16S rRNA gene sequences, strains T6T and T18T showed similarities with Belnapia rosea CGMCC 1.10758T and Belnapia moabensis CP2CT (98.11 and 98.55% gene sequence similarity, respectively). The DNA G+C content was 69.80 and 68.96% for strains T6T and T18T, respectively; the average nucleotide iden…