Transfer of Five Species and Two Subspecies of Spirillum to Other Genera (Aquaspirillum and Oceanospirillum), with Emended Descriptions of the Species and Subspecies

Abstract

Emended descriptions of these species and subspecies are given.In 1972, Terasaki (14) published a morphological, physiological, and biochemicd characterization of 49 strains of spirilla, including a number of new strains isolated from putrid infusions of shellfish (13) and a strain isolated from mosses collected in the Antarctic (see Table 1). In 1973, eight of the new strains were placed by T e r d (15) in five new species of Spirillum (S. psychrophilum, S. hiroshimense, S. pelagicum, S. pusillum, and s. multiglobuliferun), and three of the strains were placed in two new subspecies (S. itersonii subsp. nipponicum and S. peregrinum subsp. integrum) of previously established species. In the same year, Hylemon et al. (6) proposed that the genus Spirillum Ehrenberg 1832 be divided into three genera: SpirilZum, Aquaspirillum, and Oceanospirillum. Subsequently, additional characters were determined for the 11 new isolates mentioned above, and the results of both the original and the supplementary tests indicated that the freshwater strains possessed the salient characteristics of the genus Aquaspirillum (6, 9, 10) and that the marine strains possessed those of the genus Oceanospirillum (6,9,10). In the present paper, the new nomenclatural combinations necessitated by the transfer of these organisms and emended descriptions of the species and subspecies are provided. MATERIALS AND METHODSBacterial strains. The strain designations of the 11 isolates used in this investigation, their identification when they were originally described (15), their sources, and their dates of isolation are listed in Table 1. Maintenance of cultures.The Spirillum strains were maintained as agar stab cultures at room temperature (15 to 33OC) with monthly transfers, except for strain CA1, which was maintained at 4°C with trimonthly transfers. Freshwater spirilla were maintained on a nutrient agar of the following composition (in grams per liter of distilled water): Arei-peptone (Kyoei Seiyaku & Co., Ltd., Tokyo), 5.0; Arei-meat extract, 3.0; and agar, 15.0. For marine strains, a seawater agar was used, with seawater (drawn from Kairo-en, Itsukaichi-cho near Hiroshima) being substituted for the distilled water in the above nutrient agar. In those cases where the ceUs of certain strains were apt to "straighten out" during maintenance, smooth colonies were occasionally selected so as to maintain stocks of typical morphology. The method used for freeze-drying the spirilla has been reported recently by Terasaki (16).Inocula. With the exception of the tests for determination of substrates that can serve as sole carbon 130

Phylogenetic study of the genus Oceanospirillum based on 16S rRNA and gyrB genes: emended description of the genus Oceanospirillum, description of Pseudospirillum gen. nov., Oceanobacter gen. nov. and Terasakiella gen. nov. and transfer of Oceanospirillum jannaschii and Pseudomonas stanieri to Marinobacterium as Marinobacterium jannaschii comb. nov. and Marinobacterium stanieri comb. no.

“…At the level of the physiological differences described above, the basis for retaining the subspecies is questioned, since a considerable difference in phenotypes among strains of a species could occur with the current definition of a species (Wayne et al, 1987). Since strains with approximately 70 % DNA-DNA relatedness will logically have at least 2-4 % DNA sequence difference (10& nucleotides) (Stackebrandt & Goebel, 1994) The definitions of the species Oceanospirillum beijerinckii and Oceanospirillum maris remain as their original descriptions (Williams & Rittenberg, 1957 ;Hylemon et al, 1973) and the original descriptions of Oceanospirillum linum (Williams & Rittenberg, 1957) and Oceanospirillum multiglobuliferum (Terasaki, 1979) are also unchanged. Basonym : Oceanospirillum japonicum (Watanabe 1959).…”

“…The genus Oceanospirillum was established by the division of the genus Spirillum Ehrenberg 1832 by Hylemon et al (1973). Its members were isolated from the ocean, from putrid marine shellfish (Terasaki, 1972(Terasaki, , 1973(Terasaki, , 1975(Terasaki, , 1979Watanabe, 1959) and from coastal sea water (Baumann et al, 1972 ;Hylemon et al, 1973 ;Linn & Krieg, 1978 ;Williams & Rittenberg, 1957), and are presently known to be distributed ubiquitously in marine environments. According to Holt et al (1994), all helical, halophilic, chemoorganotrophic and aerobic bacteria belong to the genus Oceanospirillum, which currently consists of eight species, two of which include a total of five subspecies.…”

Genome Sequence of a Marine Spirillum, Oceanospirillum multiglobuliferum ATCC 33336 T , Isolated from Japan

“…It uses a wide variety of molecules as sole carbon sources, including acetate, propionate, butyrate, succinate, and pyruvate; grows weakly in ethanol, n -propanol, and n -butanol; and can use ammonium ions as a sole nitrogen source (1). …”

Detection of coccoid forms of Sulfitobacter mediterraneus using atomic force microscopy

“…The ability of aging cultures of some bacteria to undergo morphological conversion of their vegetative cells into coccoid forms has been found and studied intensively in spiral-shaped, freshwater and marine Gram-negative bacteria of the genera Aquaspirillum [5], Oceanospirillum [6], Marinospirillum [7], and some pathogenic bacteria (Vibrio cholerae [8], Helicobacter pylori [9], etc.). It is believed that coccoid bodies of pathogenic bacteria are viable but nonculturable [9^12].…”