Alicyclobacillus aeris sp. nov., a novel ferrous- and sulfur-oxidizing bacterium isolated from a copper mine

Abstract

A novel mesophilic, acidophilic, endospore-forming bacterium, designated strain ZJ-6 T , was isolated from Zi-Jin copper mine in Inner Mongolia, China. Cells of strain ZJ-6 T were rod-shaped, stained Gram-positive or were Gram-variable, and grew aerobically at 25-35 6C (optimum, 30 6C) and pH 2.0-6.0 (optimum, pH 3.5). 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis showed that strain ZJ-6 T was related phylogenetically to members of the genus Alicyclobacillus, with 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities of 89.5-94.2 %. Cells contained MK-7 as the major quinone and the DNA G+C content was 51.2 mol%. Strain ZJ-6 T possessed a number of phenotypic characteristics that differentiated it from recognized Alicyclobacillus species, including its growth temperature, assimilation of various carbon sources, production of acids from a range of compounds, and the ability to grow chemoautotrophically using ferrous iron, elemental sulfur and tetrathionate as electron donors. The predominant cellular fatty acids of strain ZJ-6 T were anteiso-C 15 : 0 (67.1 %), iso-C 16 : 0 (7.7 %) and anteiso-C 17 : 0 (7.4 %); v-alicyclic fatty acids were not found. On the basis of these results, it is concluded that strain ZJ-6 T represents a novel species within the genus Alicyclobacillus, for which the name Alicyclobacillus aeris sp. nov. is proposed; the type strain is ZJ-6 T (5CGMCC 1.7072 T 5NBRC 104953 T ).

Alicyclobacillus consociatus sp. nov., isolated from a human clinical specimen

“…We did not detect v-cyclic fatty acids. This is consistent with findings in other species such as A. aeris, A. ferrooxydans, A. pomorum, A. macrosporangiidus, A. contaminans and A. pohliae (Guo et al, 2009). …”

“…The genus Alicyclobacillus is remarkably heterogeneous. Initially described as a genus characterized chemotaxonomically by the presence of large amounts of alicyclic fatty acids (Wisotzkey et al 1992), many species have since been described, among them Alicyclobacillus aeris, Alicyclobacillus ferrooxydans, Alicyclobacillus pomorum, Alicyclobacillus macrosporangiidus, Alicyclobacillus contaminans and Alicyclobacillus pohliae (Goto et al, 2007;Guo et al, 2009;Imperio et al, 2008;Jiang et al, 2008), in which these characteristic fatty acids have not been reported.In 2007, an endospore-forming organism was isolated from a blood sample from a 51-year-old woman on blood agar at 37 u C. Unfortunately, no other information of the clinical relevance of the strain is available. The strain was isolated from a blood culture, but it is not clear, and no proof has been documented, whether the strain really was the causal agent of an infection.…”

“…The genus Alicyclobacillus is remarkably heterogeneous. Initially described as a genus characterized chemotaxonomically by the presence of large amounts of alicyclic fatty acids (Wisotzkey et al 1992), many species have since been described, among them Alicyclobacillus aeris, Alicyclobacillus ferrooxydans, Alicyclobacillus pomorum, Alicyclobacillus macrosporangiidus, Alicyclobacillus contaminans and Alicyclobacillus pohliae (Goto et al, 2007;Guo et al, 2009;Imperio et al, 2008;Jiang et al, 2008), in which these characteristic fatty acids have not been reported.…”

Diversity of the Sediment Microbial Community in the Aha Watershed (Southwest China) in Response to Acid Mine Drainage Pollution Gradients

“…Isolates of these bacteria grow at a pH range of 2.0 to 6.0 (29). Prior studies that isolated these bacteria from mining areas showed that they were able to oxidize ferrous iron and reduced sulfur (30)(31)(32). In addition, many Alicyclobacillus species are able to grow using organic carbon sources (33,34) and could grow in oxygen-free media using ferric iron as a terminal electron acceptor (35).…”

Characterization of the microbial community composition and the distribution of Fe-metabolizing bacteria in a creek contaminated by acid mine drainage

“…Please note that microbial communities from creek mats were shown as red dots, aeration units were shown as green dots, and contaminated soils were shown as orange dots. (Guo et al 2009). The Alicyclobacillus-related OTU identified in the current study was closely related (97 % sequence similarity of 373 bp) to Alicyclobacillaceae bacterium Y002 isolated from acidic sediments (Lu et al 2010).…”