Sulfobacillus thermotolerans sp. nov., a thermotolerant, chemolithotrophic bacterium

Abstract

A thermotolerant, Gram-positive, aerobic, endospore-forming, acidophilic bacterium (strain Kr1T) was isolated from the pulp of a gold-containing sulfide concentrate processed at 40 °C in a gold-recovery plant (Siberia). Cells of strain Kr1T were straight to slightly curved rods, 0.8–1.2 μm in diameter and 1.5–4.5 μm in length. Strain Kr1T formed spherical and oval, refractile, subterminally located endospores. The temperature range for growth was 20–60 °C, with an optimum at 40 °C. The pH range for growth on medium containing ferrous iron was 1.2–2.4, with an optimum at pH 2.0; the pH range for growth on medium containing S0 was 2.0–5.0, with an optimum at pH 2.5. Strain Kr1T was mixotrophic, oxidizing ferrous iron, S0, tetrathionate or sulfide minerals as energy sources in the presence of 0.02 % yeast extract or other organic substrates. The G+C content of the DNA of strain Kr1T was 48.2±0.5 mol%. Strain Kr1T showed a low level of DNA–DNA reassociation with the known Sulfobacillus species (11–44 %). 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis revealed that Kr1T formed a separate phylogenetic group with a high degree of similarity between the nucleotide sequences (98.3–99.6 %) and 100 % bootstrap support within the phylogenetic Sulfobacillus cluster. On the basis of its physiological properties and the results of phylogenetic analyses, strain Kr1T can be affiliated to a novel species of the genus Sulfobacillus, for which the name Sulfobacillus thermotolerans sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is Kr1T (=VKM B-2339T=DSM 17362T).