An extremely halophilic archaeal strain YJ-50-S2 T was isolated from Yangjiang marine solar saltern, China. Cells were pleomorphic, stained Gram-negative and formed red-pigmented colonies on agar plates. Strain YJ-50-S2 T was able to grow at 25-50 C (optimum 37 C), with 0.9-4.8 M NaCl (optimum 2.6 M NaCl) and 0-1.0 M MgCl 2 (optimum 0.03 M MgCl 2 ), and at pH 5.0-9.5 (optimum pH 7.5). The cells lysed in distilled water and the minimal NaCl concentration to prevent cell lysis was 5 % (w/v). The

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... 6S rRNA gene and rpoB¢ gene of strain YJ-50-S2 T were phylogenetically related to the corresponding genes of Salinigranum rubrum GX10 T (97.0 % and 90.5 % similarities, respectively). The major polar lipids of strainYJ-50-S2 T were phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol phosphate methyl ester, and two major glycolipids chromatographically identical to sulfated mannosyl glucosyl diether and mannosyl glucosyl diether, respectively. Several unidentified glycolipids were also detected. The DNA G+C content of strain YJ-50-S2 T was 65.2 mol%. The phenotypic, chemotaxonomic and phylogenetic properties suggested that strain YJ-50-S2 T represents a novel species of the genus Salinigranum, for which the name Salinigranum salinum sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is