International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology, Vol 52, 429-432, Copyright © 2002 by Society for General Microbiology

Ilyobacter insuetus sp. nov., a fermentative bacterium specialized in the degradation of hydroaromatic compounds

A. Brune, S. Evers, G. Kaim, W. Ludwig and B. Schink
Lehrstuhl fur Mikrobielle Okologie, Fachbereich Biologie, Universitat Konstanz, Fach M 654, 78457 Konstanz, Germany

The mesophilic, anaerobic bacterium strain VenChi2(T) was isolated with quinic acid (1,3,4,5-tetrahydroxy-cyclohexane-1-carboxylic acid) as the sole source of carbon and energy. Of more than 30 substrates tested, only quinic acid and shikimic acid (3,4,5-trihydroxy-1-cyclohexene-1-carboxylic acid) were utilized, yielding acetate, propionate, butyrate, H(2) and CO(2) as fermentation products. Sugars, alcohols, (di-)carboxylic acids, amino acids and aromatic compounds were not fermented and no external electron acceptors were used. Strain VenChi2(T) is a Gram-negative, strictly anaerobic, coccoid rod; it does not employ the classical hydroaromatic pathway of aerobic bacteria for the degradation of hydroaromatic compounds (no aromatic intermediates involved). Comparative 16S and 23S rDNA sequence analyses placed strain VenChi2(T) in the fusobacteria phylum, with the closest relatives among species of the genera Ilyobacter and Propionigenium. The results indicate that, disregarding the taxonomically misplaced Ilyobacter delafieldii, which is a member of the clostridia, the validly described Ilyobacter and Propionigenium species are phylogenetically intermixed. Based on its phenotypic properties, strain VenChi2(T) (=DSM 6831(T) =ATCC BAA-291(T)) is assigned to the genus Ilyobacter as the type strain of a novel species, Ilyobacter insuetus sp. nov.

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