A novel Gram-positive facultatively alkaliphilic, sporulating, rod-shaped bacterium, designated as WW3-SN6, has been isolated from the alkaline washwaters derived from the preparation of edible olives. The bacterium is nonmotile, and flagella are not observed. It is oxidase positive and catalase negative. The facultative alkaliphile grows from pH 7.0 to 10.5, with a broad optimum from pH 8.0 to 9.0. It could grow in up to 15% (w/v) NaCl, and over the temperature range from 4 degrees to 37 degrees C, with an optimum between 27 degrees and 32 degrees C: therefore, it is both halotolerant and psychrotolerant. The bacterium is sensitive to a range of beta-lactam, sulfonamide, and aminoglycoside antibiotics, but resistant to trimethoprim. The range of amino acids, sugars, and polyols utilized as growth substrates indicates that this alkaliphile is a heterotrophic bacterium. D(+)-glucose, D(+)-glucose-6-phosphate, D(+)-cellobiose, starch, or sucrose are the substrates best utilized. The major membrane lipids are phosphatidylglycerol and diphosphatidylglycerol, with smaller amounts of phosphatidylethanolamine and an unknown phospholipid. During growth at high pH, the proportion of phosphatidylglycerol is increased relative to phosphatidylethanolamine. The fatty acyl components in the membrane phospholipids are mainly branched chain, with 13-methyl tetradecanoic and 12-methyl tetradecanoic acids as the predominant components. The G + C content of the genomic DNA is 41.1 +/- 1.0 mol%. The results of 16S ribosomal RNA sequence analysis place this alkaliphilic bacterium in a cluster, together with an unnamed alkaliphilic Bacillus species (98.2% similarity).