Deinococcus reticulitermitis sp. nov., isolated from a termite gut

Abstract

Bacterial strain TM-1Twas isolated from the gut of a wood-feeding termite,Reticulitermes chinensisSnyder. Cells of strain TM-1Twere Gram-negative, spherical (1.0–2.0 µm in diameter), non-motile, non-sporulating and red-pigmented. Strain TM-1Twas resistant to UV radiation, showing 34 % survival after exposure to UV light at a dose of 100 J m−2. Growth occurred at 20–40 °C (optimum, 30 °C), at pH 6.0–10.0 (optimum, pH 6.0–7.0), and in the presence of 0–1 % (w/v) NaCl (optimum, 0–0.4 %). Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that strain TM-1Twas related to members of the genusDeinococcus, with sequence similarities ranging from 87.0 to 94.0 %. The peptidoglycan of strain TM-1Tcontained ornithine, alanine, glycine and glutamic acid. The most abundant cellular fatty acids of strain TM-1Twere summed feature 3 (C16 : 1ω7cand/or C16 : 1ω6c; 22.3 %) and C16 : 0(37.5 %). MK-8 was the predominant quinone. The polar lipid profile contained three glycophospholipids, six glycolipids, one aminolipid and three unknown lipids. DNA of the type strain had a G+C content of 65.6 mol%. Based on the phylogenetic, chemotaxonomic and phenotypic data presented, strain TM-1Trepresents a novel species of the genusDeinococcus, for which the nameDeinococcus reticulitermitissp. nov. is proposed, with TM-1T( = CGMCC 1.10218T = NBRC 106334T) as the type strain.