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Thiohalospira halophila gen. nov., sp. nov. and Thiohalospira alkaliphila sp. nov., novel obligately chemolithoautotrophic, halophilic, sulfur-oxidizing gammaproteobacteria from hypersaline habitats

¹ Winogradsky Institute of Microbiology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Prospect 60-let Octyabrya 7/2, 117811 Moscow, Russia
² Department of Biotechnology, Delft University of Technology, Julianalaan 67, 2628 BC Delft, The Netherlands

Correspondence
Dimitry Yu. Sorokin
soroc{at}inmi.host.ru
or
d.y.sorokin{at}tudelft.nl

A previously unknown ecotype of obligately chemolithoautotrophic, sulfur-oxidizing bacteria was discovered in sediments of various inland hypersaline lakes and a solar saltern. The salt requirements for these bacteria were similar to those of haloarchaea, representing the first example of extreme halophiles occurring among the chemolithoautotrophs. They were enriched and isolated at 4 M NaCl under aerobic conditions with thiosulfate or tetrathionate as the electron donor or under micro-oxic conditions with sulfide. In total, 20 strains were obtained from hypersaline inland lakes in central Asia, central Russia and Crimea and a sea saltern of the Adriatic Sea. The isolates were thin, motile spirilla, some of which possessed a yellow, membrane-bound pigment. They were obligately aerobic, chemolithoautotrophic, sulfur-oxidizing bacteria that used thiosulfate, sulfide, sulfur and tetrathionate as electron donors. The characteristic feature of the group was the production of large amounts of tetrathionate as an intermediate during the oxidation of thiosulfate to sulfate. All but one of the strains grew within the pH range 6.5–8.2 (optimally at pH 7.3–7.8) and at NaCl concentrations from 2.0 to 5 M (optimally at 3.0 M). A single strain, designated ALgr 6sp^T, obtained (by enrichment) from the hypersaline alkaline lakes of the Wadi Natrun valley, was found to be moderately halophilic and facultatively alkaliphilic (capable of growth at pH 10). The predominant cellular fatty acids were quite unusual, with 10-methyl C_{16 : 0} and C_{16 : 0} predominating. Cells grown at 4 M NaCl accumulated extremely high concentrations of glycine betaine as a compatible solute. The 20 neutrophilic isolates contained three genospecies (on the basis of DNA–DNA relatedness data) but could not be discriminated phenotypically. On the basis of the phenotypic and genotypic analyses, the isolates constitute a novel genus and species, for which the name Thiohalospira halophila gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain of Thiohalospira halophila is HL 3^T (=DSM 15071^T=UNIQEM U219^T). The haloalkaliphilic strain ALgr 6sp^T represents a second species of the new genus, for which the name Thiohalospira alkaliphila sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain of Thiohalospira alkaliphila is ALgr 6sp^T (=DSM 17116^T=UNIQEM U372^T).

The GenBank/EMBL/DDBJ accession numbers for the 16S rRNA gene sequences determined in this study are DQ469576–DQ469579, EU169227 and EU368842–EU368850.

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				D. Yu. Sorokin, T. P. Tourova, E. A. Galinski, G. Muyzer, and J. G. Kuenen Thiohalorhabdus denitrificans gen. nov., sp. nov., an extremely halophilic, sulfur-oxidizing, deep-lineage gammaproteobacterium from hypersaline habitats Int J Syst Evol Microbiol, December 1, 2008; 58(12): 2890 - 2897. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]