Salinispora

Salinispora is a genus of obligately aerobic, gram-positive, non-acid-fast bacteria belonging to the family of Micromonosporaceae. They are heterotrophic, non-motile, and obligately grow under high osmotic/ionic-strength conditions. They are the first identified genus of gram-positive bacteria which has a high osmotic/ionic-strength requirement for survival. They are widely abundant in tropical marine sediments and were first identified in 2002. This genus of bacteria has potential biotechnological significance due to their production of novel secondary metabolites which can be used pharmaceutically.

There are nine known species that fall within the genus of Salinispora including the better studied S. arenicola, S. tropica, and S. pacifica. The clade that initially comprised only S. pacifica was further interrogated through comparative genomic analyses in 2020 to reveal six additional species. The differentiation of these species is likely the result of niche differentiation rather than allopatric speciation due to the species co-occurrence. Despite there being high sequence similarity among Salinispora genomes (>99% 16S rRNA sequence identity), species- and strain-based differences among biosynthetic gene clusters and products have been determined.