Isolation, Identification, and Survival Strategy of the Halotolerant Strain Dietzia maris MX2 from the Yakshinskoe Mineral Salts Deposit

Abstract

Halophilic and halotolerant microorganisms have a high biotechnological potential. They are producers of biologically active substances, stress-protective agents, hydrolytic enzymes, and are used for environmental bioremediation. At the same time, the characterization of novel halotolerant bacteria and determination of their salt tolerance strategies are important basic problems. The present work reports the isolation of a new strain, MX2, from the salt well brine of the Yakshinskoe potassium−magnesium salt deposit. The isolate was an aerobic, gram-positive, nonmotile bacterium that did not form spores. The cell morphology varied from cocci to short rods capable of producing V-shaped forms. The colonies on agar were circular, with an entire edge and raised center, glistening and orange. Bacteria of strain MX2 were halotolerant microorganisms capable of growing at NaCl concentrations up to 9%. The genome of strain MX2 was sequenced. Its estimated size was 3 747 717 bp, and the number of protein-coding genes was 3562. Strain MX2 was identified as belonging to the species Dietzia maris based on analysis of the 16S rRNA, gyrB, rpoB, recA, and ppk gene sequences and using time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS). D. maris MX2 had complete metabolic pathways for the synthesis of ectoine, hydroxyectoine, and trehalose, as well as the transport systems for ectoine, hydroxyectoine, trehalose, glycerol, glycerol-3-phosphate, L-proline, and glycine-betaine. Thus, to ensure the osmotic balance, D. maris MX2 used the strategy of accumulating compatible organic solutes.