A Comparison of the Filamentous Iron Organisms, Clonothrix Fusca Roze and Crenothrix Polyspora Cohn

Clonothrix fuscaRoze 1896, a Filamentous, Sheathed, Methanotrophic γ-Proteobacterium

“…Although these microorganisms became well known for blocking wells in various European countries and the United States (12,16,21,25,32), their phylogenies and physiologies have for a long time remained unknown because, in spite of excellent seminal studies addressing their morphologies, life cycles, and ecologies (5,12,16,21,25,26,30,31,38,45), they have not been cultivated to date (36).…”

“…By taking advantage of the luxuriant growth of C. fusca in this environment, the problem of defining the taxonomy of this microorganism, originally considered a developmental stage of C. polyspora (16,21,25), was addressed.…”

The impact of environmental perturbation on microbial community structure and dynamics: Factors affecting growth ofClonothrix fuscain groundwater

“…Taking advantage of luxuriant growth of Clonothrix fusca in this environment, the problem of defining the taxonomy of this microorganism, originally considered a developmental stage of Crenothrix polyspora (Molisch 1910, Lieske 1922, Kolk 1938), a methanotrophic microorganism (Stoecker et al 2006), was also addressed. Combined culture-based and cultureindependent approaches enabled us to assign C. fusca to a novel subgroup of methane oxidizing g-Proteobacteria distinct from that of C. polyspora on the basis of physiological, ultrastructural and molecular data (Vigliotta et al 2007).…”

“…The succession of C. fusca and C. polyspora was described for the first time at the beginning of the past century in a number of studies carefully addressing morphology, life cycle and ecology of the two microrganisms (Molisch 1910, Lieske 1922, Kolk 1938). In the summers of 1934, 1935 and 1936, C. fusca appeared in the water supplied from the house tap to a section of Brooklyn in sufficiently large dark brown clumps of filaments to be visible to the eye.…”

“…In the summers of 1934, 1935 and 1936, C. fusca appeared in the water supplied from the house tap to a section of Brooklyn in sufficiently large dark brown clumps of filaments to be visible to the eye. In December of 1936, both C. fusca and C. polyspora appeared in great quantity, often attached to the same mass substrate, during a period of unseasonably warm weather (Kolk 1938). Although a possible correlation between the growth of these microorganisms in the artesian well and an increase of iron, calcium, magnesium, ammonia and nitrite levels in the water with a moderate decrease of pH values was suggested in our previous study (Vigliotta et al 2007), the link between the physical-chemical environmental parameters and the physiology of this microorganism remained elusive.…”