A prosthecate bacterial strain, designated G-192T, was isolated from decaying biomass of a haloalkaliphilic cyanobacterium Geitlerinema sp. Z-T0701. The cells were aerobic, Gram-negative, non-endospore-forming and dimorphic, occurring either as sessile bacteria with a characteristic stalk or as motile flagellated cells. The strain utilized a limited range of substrates, mostly peptonaceous, but was able to degrade whole proteins. Growth occurred at 5-46 °C (optimum, 35-40 °C), pH 7.3-10.3 (optimum, pH 8.0-9.0), 0-14 % NaCl (v/w; optimum, 2.0-6.0 %, v/w). The G+C content of the genomic DNA of strain G-192T was 66.8%. Phylogenetic analysis of the 16S rRNA gene sequence revealed that strain G-192T formed a distinct evolutionary lineage within the family Hyphomonadaceae. Strain G-192T showed the highest 16S rRNA sequence similarity to Glycocaulis profundi ZYF765T (95.2%), Oceanicaulis stylophorae GISW-4T (94.2%) and Marinicauda salina WD6-1T (95.5%). The major cellular fatty acids (>5% of the total) were C18:1 ω9c, C18:0 and 11-methyl-C18:1 ω7c. The major polar lipids were glycolipids and phospholipids. The only respiratory quinone was ubiquinone-10 (Q-10). Based on polyphasic results including phylogenomic data, the novel strain could be distinguished from other genera, which suggests that strain G-192T represents a novel species of a new genus, for which the name Alkalicaulis satelles gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is G-192T (=VKM B-3306T=KCTC 72746T). The strain is the first representative of the stalked bacteria associated with a haloalkaliphilic cyanobacterium. Based on phylogenomic indices and phenotypic data, it is proposed to evolve two novel families Maricaulaceae fam. nov. and Robiginitomaculaceae fam. nov. out of the current family Hyphomonadaceae. In addition, it is proposed to place the first two families in the novel order Maricaulales ord. nov. and novel order Hyphomonadales ord. nov. is proposed to accommodate the family Hyphomonadaceae.
Keywords: Alkalicaulis; Alphaproteobacteria; Hyphomonadaceae; alkaliphiles; stalked bacteria.