IJSEM Faster Access from Outside North America
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
 QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     


This Article
Right arrow Abstract Freely available
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Kim, M. K.
Right arrow Articles by Yang, D.-C.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Kim, M. K.
Right arrow Articles by Yang, D.-C.
Agricola
Right arrow Articles by Kim, M. K.
Right arrow Articles by Yang, D.-C.
Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 56 (2006), 1615-1619; DOI  10.1099/ijs.0.64049-0
© 2006 International Union of Microbiological Societies

Thermomonas koreensis sp. nov., a mesophilic bacterium isolated from a ginseng field

Myung Kyum Kim1, Wan-Taek Im1, Jun-Gyo In2, Sung-Hoon Kim3 and Deok-Chun Yang1

1 Department of Oriental Medicinal Material & Processing, College of Life Science, Kyung Hee University, 1 Seocheon, Kiheung Yongin, Kyunggi 449-701, South Korea
2 Biopia Co., Ltd, 383-4 Singal-ri, Kiheung Yongin, Kyunggi-do 449-598, South Korea
3 Department of Oncology, Graduate School of East–West Medical Science, Kyung Hee University, 1 Seocheon, Kiheung Yongin, Kyunggi 449-701, South Korea

Correspondence
Deok-Chun Yang
deokchunyang{at}yahoo.co.kr


    ABSTRACT
 TOP
 ABSTRACT
 MAIN TEXT
 REFERENCES
 
A Gram-negative, non-spore-forming, rod-shaped, motile bacterium, strain Ko06T, was isolated from soil from a ginseng field in South Korea and was characterized in order to determine its taxonomic position. 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis revealed that strain Ko06T belongs to the Gammaproteobacteria, and the highest levels of sequence similarity were with Thermomonas brevis LMG 21746T (98.4 %), Thermomonas fusca LMG 21737T (97.7 %), Thermomonas haemolytica A50-7-3T (96.5 %) and Thermomonas hydrothermalis SGM-6T (95.8 %). Chemotaxonomic data revealed that strain Ko06T possesses ubiquinone Q-8 and that the predominant fatty acids are C15 : 0 iso, C11 : 0 iso and C11 : 0 iso 3-OH, all of which corroborated assignment of the strain to the genus Thermomonas. The results of DNA–DNA hybridization and physiological and biochemical tests clearly demonstrated that strain Ko06T represents a distinct species. On the basis of these data, strain Ko06T (=KCTC 12540T=NBRC 101155T) should be classified as the type strain of a novel Thermomonas species, for which the name Thermomonas koreensis sp. nov. is proposed.


The GenBank/EMBL/DDBJ accession number for the 16S rRNA gene sequence of strain Ko06T is DQ154906.


    MAIN TEXT
 TOP
 ABSTRACT
 MAIN TEXT
 REFERENCES
 
The genus Thermomonas was established by Busse et al. (2002)Go for four strains with high G+C contents isolated from kaolin slurry, in which the strains were growing at temperatures as high as 50 °C; Thermomonas haemolytica is the type species. At the time of writing, there are four Thermomonas species with validly published names: Thermomonas haemolytica (Busse et al., 2002Go), Thermomonas brevis (Mergaert et al., 2003Go), Thermomonas fusca (Mergaert et al., 2003Go) and Thermomonas hydrothermalis (Alves et al., 2003Go).

In a series of studies, we used a culture-dependent method in attempts to isolate micro-organisms from a ginseng field in order to investigate the make-up of the microbial community. In this study, one strain was isolated from soil from a ginseng field in Daejeon (South Korea) and characterized by using polyphasic approaches. These polyphasic approaches, including phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences, analysis of genomic relatedness and assessment of chemotaxonomic and phenotypic properties, were conducted to determine the precise taxonomic position of strain Ko06T. The results obtained in this study indicated that Ko06T can be assigned as a member of the genus Thermomonas but is clearly distinguishable from the Thermomonas species with validly published names.

Strain Ko06T was isolated, using direct plating onto R2A agar (Difco), from soil from a ginseng field near Daechung Lake. Single colonies on these plates were purified by transferring them onto new plates and subjecting them to an additional incubation for 3 days at 30 °C. The purified colonies were tentatively identified by means of partial 16S rRNA gene sequences.

Cell morphology and motility were observed with a Nikon light microscope (1000x magnification), with the cells being allowed to grow for 3 days at 30 °C on R2A agar. Gram reactions were conducted according to the non-staining method, as described by Buck (1982)Go. Oxidase activity was evaluated using the oxidation of 1 % p-aminodimethylaniline oxalate. Catalase activity was determined by measuring bubble production after the application of a 3 % (v/v) hydrogen peroxide solution. Acid production from carbohydrates was assessed by using the procedures outlined by Cappuccino & Sherman (2002)Go. Growth at various temperatures (4, 15, 25, 30, 37, 42 and 50 °C) was assessed on R2A agar, and growth at various pH values was assessed in R2A broth. Growth on nutrient agar, trypticase soy agar and MacConkey agar (Difco) was also evaluated at 30 °C. The API 20NE and API ID 32GN systems were employed in these tests, according to the recommendations of the manufacturer (bioMérieux).

Isoprenoid quinones were extracted with chloroform/methanol (2 : 1, v/v), purified using TLC and subsequently analysed by HPLC, as described previously (Collins & Jones, 1981Go; Shin et al., 1996Go). For fatty acid methyl ester analyses, strain Ko06T was allowed to grow on trypticase soy agar for 48 h at 30 °C and then two loops of the well-grown cells were harvested. Fatty acid methyl esters were prepared, separated and identified with the Sherlock Microbial Identification System (MIDI) (Sasser, 1990Go). Total cellular lipids were extracted and analysed using TLC (Kim et al., 2005Go).

Genomic DNA of strain Ko06T was extracted and purified with the Qiagen Genomic-tip system 100/G and then enzymically degraded into nucleosides, as described previously (Tamaoka & Komagata, 1984Go; Mesbah et al., 1989Go). DNA–DNA hybridization was performed fluorometrically, according to the method developed by Ezaki et al. (1989)Go, using photobiotin-labelled DNA probes and microdilution wells. Five replicate hybridizations were performed for each sample. The highest and lowest values obtained for each sample were excluded and the means of the remaining three values are quoted as DNA–DNA relatedness values.

Genomic DNA was extracted and purified with a genomic DNA isolation kit (Core Bio System). The 16S rRNA gene was amplified from the chromosomal DNA of strain Ko06T, using the universal bacterial primer set 9F and 1512R (Weisburg et al., 1991Go); the purified PCR products were sequenced by Genotec (Daejeon, South Korea) (Kim et al., 2005Go). The full sequence of the 16S rRNA gene was compiled with SeqMan software, and the 16S rRNA gene sequence of the test strain was edited using the BioEdit program (Hall, 1999Go). The 16S rRNA gene sequences of related taxa were obtained from GenBank. Multiple alignments were performed with the CLUSTAL X program (Thompson et al., 1997Go). Evolutionary distances were calculated using the Kimura two-parameter model (Kimura, 1983Go). The phylogenetic tree was constructed using the neighbour-joining method (Saitou & Nei, 1987Go) in the MEGA 2 program (Kumar et al., 2001Go). Bootstrap analysis with 1000 replicates was also conducted to obtain confidence levels for the branches (Felsenstein, 1985Go). All of the species in the genus Thermomonas were included in the phylogenetic tree.

Strain Ko06T was cultured on R2A agar at 30 °C, yielding light-brownish and circular colonies. Strain Ko06T was found to be an aerobic, Gram-negative, motile, rod-shaped bacterium. It was also determined as being able to grow at 20–37 °C, but it did not grow at 4 or 50 °C. The physiological characteristics of strain Ko06T are summarized in the species description, and a comparison of distinguishing characteristics with those of related type strains is shown in Table 1Go.


View this table:
[in this window]
[in a new window]
 
Table 1. Differential phenotypic characteristics for strain Ko06T and related Thermomonas species

Taxa: 1, T. koreensis sp. nov. Ko06T; 2, T. fusca (n=18; Mergaert et al., 2003Go); 3, T. brevis (n=4; Mergaert et al., 2003Go); 4, T. haemolytica (n=4; Busse et al., 2002Go); 5, T. hydrothermalis (n=2; Alves et al., 2003Go). All taxa are Gram-negative rods and are catalase- and oxidase-positive. Symbols: +, all positive; –, all negative; (+), more than 60 % of strains positive; (–), more than 60 % of strains negative; W, weakly positive; ND, not determined.

 
The cellular fatty acid profiles of strain Ko06T and related Thermomonas type strains are shown in Table 2Go. The major cellular fatty acid in strain Ko06T was iso-pentadecanoic acid (C15 : 0 iso, 53.2 %). Minor amounts of other iso-branched fatty acids, C16 : 0 10-methyl (7.0 %), C11 : 0 iso 3-OH (6.7 %), C14 : 0 (5.3 %), C15 : 0 anteiso (4.8 %) and C11 : 0 iso (4.6 %) were present. C11 : 0 iso 3-OH (6.7 %) was the only hydroxy fatty acid found in strain Ko06T. The presence of iso-branched fatty acids, with C15 : 0 iso as the major fatty acid, is characteristic of genera in the Xanthomonas branch, including Xanthomonas, Pseudoxanthomonas, Stenotrophomonas, Xylella and Luteimonas (Assih et al., 2002Go; Roumagnac et al., 2004Go; Yang et al., 2005Go). Significant differences in fatty acid profiles were found between different species of the genus Thermomonas.


View this table:
[in this window]
[in a new window]
 
Table 2. Cellular fatty acid profiles of strain Ko06T and related Thermomonas species

Taxa: 1, T. koreensis sp. nov. Ko06T; 2, T. fusca (n=18; Mergaert et al., 2003Go); 3, T. brevis (n=4; Mergaert et al., 2003Go); 4, T. haemolytica (n=3; Mergaert et al., 2003Go); 5, T. hydrothermalis (n=2; Alves et al., 2003Go). Values are percentages of total fatty acids. For unsaturated fatty acids, the position of the double bond is taken from the terminal methyl group of the carbon chain; cis isomers are indicated by the suffix c. tr, Trace.

 
The predominant quinone of strain Ko06T was Q-8. The quinone system supported our assignment of strain Ko06T to the Xanthomonas branch, in which the majority of species (including Thermomonas species) also exhibit Q-8 as the predominant quinone.

The 16S rRNA gene sequence of strain Ko06T was found to be a continuous stretch of 1474 nt. The 16S rRNA gene sequences of related taxa were obtained from GenBank. Strain Ko06T was determined as belonging to the Gammaproteobacteria, and the highest levels of sequence similarity were with T. brevis LMG 21746T (98.4 %), T. fusca LMG 21737T (97.7 %), T. haemolytica A50-7-3T (96.5 %) and T. hydrothermalis SGM-6T (95.8 %). In the phylogenetic tree (Fig. 1Go), strain Ko06T clearly belongs to the Thermomonas lineage, as evident from the high bootstrap value.


Figure 1
View larger version (22K):
[in this window]
[in a new window]
 
Fig. 1. Phylogenetic tree, based on 16S rRNA gene sequences, showing the phylogenetic relationships between strain Ko06T, all species of Thermomonas and members of related genera in the Xanthomonas branch. The neighbour-joining method was used. Bootstrap values higher than 66 % are shown. Bar, 0.01 substitutions per nucleotide position.

 
The G+C content of the genomic DNA of strain Ko06T was found to be 68.3 mol%. Strain Ko06T exhibited a relatively low level of DNA–DNA relatedness to the type strains T. fusca LMG 21737T (27 %), T. brevis LMG 21746T (13 %), T. haemolytica A50-7-3T (16 %) and T. hydrothermalis SGM-6T (19 %). The level of DNA–DNA hybridization to related type strains was therefore less than 70 % (Stackebrandt & Goebel, 1994Go), a value which is regarded as the threshold for delineating a genomic species. Our results therefore support the classification of strain Ko06T within a separate, previously unrecognized species. The results of our polyphasic analysis support the recognition of a novel species within the genus Thermomonas, for which the name Thermomonas koreensis sp. nov. is proposed.

Description of Thermomonas koreensis sp. nov.
Thermomonas koreensis sp. nov. (ko.re.en'sis. N.L. fem. adj. koreensis pertaining to Korea, the location of the soil sample from which the type strain was isolated).

Cells are Gram-negative, aerobic, motile rods, 3.0–4.0x0.7 µm in size after growth on R2A agar for 3 days at 30 °C. The optimal growth temperature and pH are 37 °C and pH 8.0–9.0, and grow is observed at a salt concentration of 3 %. Catalase- and oxidase-positive. Shows beta-glucosidase and protease (gelatin hydrolysis) activity and does not show arginine dihydrolase, urease or beta-galactosidase (PNPG) activity. Does not produce any biopolymer-hydrolysing enzymes such as cellulase, chitinase, DNase, lipase or xylanase. Assimilates D-glucose, D-maltose, acetate, L-alanine, propionate, 3-hydroxybutyrate, L-proline and does not assimilate L-arabinose, D-mannose, D-mannitol, N-acetylglucosamine, gluconate, caprate, adipate, malate, citrate, phenylacetate, L-rhamnose, D-ribose, myo-inositol, D-sucrose, itaconate, suberate, malonate, lactate, 5-ketogluconate, glycogen, 3-hydroxybenzoate, L-serine, salicin, D-melibiose, L-fucose, D-sorbitol, valerate, L-histidine, 2-ketogluconate or 4-hydroxybenzoate. DNA G+C content is 68.3 mol% (as determined by HPLC). Q-8 is the predominant quinone. The major cellular fatty acid is C15 : 0 iso, (53.2 %). Other phenotypic characteristics, such as substrates utilized and enzymes produced, are summarized in Table 1Go.

The type strain, Ko06T (=KCTC 12540T=NBRC 101155T), was isolated from soil from a ginseng field near Daechung Lake in Daejeon, South Korea.


    ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
 
This work was supported by a grant (code MB-14) from the BioGreen 21 Program of the Rural Development Administration, Republic of Korea.


    REFERENCES
 TOP
 ABSTRACT
 MAIN TEXT
 REFERENCES
 
Alves, M. P., Rainey, F. A., Nobre, M. F. & da Costa, M. S. (2003). Thermomonas hydrothermalis sp. nov., a new slightly thermophilic {gamma}-proteobacterium isolated from a hot spring in central Portugal. Syst Appl Microbiol 26, 70–75.[CrossRef][Medline]

Assih, E. A., Ouattara, A. S., Thierry, S., Cayol, J.-L., Labat, M. & Macarie, H. (2002). Stenotrophomonas acidaminiphila sp. nov., a strictly aerobic bacterium isolated from an upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 52, 559–568.[Abstract]

Buck, J. D. (1982). Nonstaining (KOH) method for determination of Gram reactions of marine bacteria. Appl Environ Microbiol 44, 992–993.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

Busse, H.-J., Kämpfer, P., Moore, E. R. B. & 7 other authors (2002). Thermomonas haemolytica gen. nov., sp. nov., a {gamma}-proteobacterium from kaolin slurry. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 52, 473–483.[Abstract]

Cappuccino, J. G. & Sherman, N. (2002). Microbiology: a Laboratory Manual, 6th edn. Menlo Park, CA: Benjamin Cummings Science Publishing.

Collins, M. D. & Jones, D. (1981). Distribution of isoprenoid quinone structural types in bacteria and their taxonomic implications. Microbiol Rev 45, 316–354.[Free Full Text]

Ezaki, T., Hashimoto, Y. & Yabuuchi, E. (1989). Fluorometric deoxyribonucleic acid-deoxyribonucleic acid hybridization in microdilution wells as an alternative to membrane filter hybridization in which radioisotopes are used to determine genetic relatedness among bacterial strains. Int J Syst Bacteriol 39, 224–229.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

Felsenstein, J. (1985). Confidence limit on phylogenies: an approach using the bootstrap. Evolution 39, 783–791.[CrossRef]

Hall, T. A. (1999). BioEdit: a user-friendly biological sequence alignment editor and analysis program for Windows 95/98/NT. Nucleic Acids Symp Ser 41, 95–98.

Kim, M. K., Im, W.-T., Ohta, H., Lee, M. & Lee, S.-T. (2005). Sphingopyxis granuli sp. nov., a beta-glucosidase-producing bacterium in the family Sphingomonadaceae in {alpha}-4 subclass of the Proteobacteria. J Microbiol 43, 152–157.[Medline]

Kimura, M. (1983). The Neutral Theory of Molecular Evolution. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Kumar, S., Tamura, K., Jakobsen, I.-B. & Nei, M. (2001). MEGA2: molecular evolutionary genetics analysis software. Bioinformatics 17, 1244–1245.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

Mergaert, J., Cnockaert, M. C. & Swings, J. (2003). Thermomonas fusca sp. nov. and Thermomonas brevis sp. nov., two mesophilic species isolated from a denitrification reactor with poly({varepsilon}-caprolactone) plastic granules as fixed bed, and emended description of the genus Thermomonas. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 53, 1961–1966.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

Mesbah, M., Premachandran, U. & Whitman, W. B. (1989). Precise measurement of the G+C content of deoxyribonucleic acid by high-performance liquid chromatography. Int J Syst Bacteriol 39, 159–167.

Roumagnac, P., Gagnevin, L., Gardan, L., Sutra, L., Manceau, C., Dickstein, E. R., Jones, J. B., Rott, P. & Pruvost, O. (2004). Polyphasic characterization of xanthomonads isolated from onion, garlic and Welsh onion (Allium spp.) and their relatedness to different Xanthomonas species. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 54, 15–24.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

Saitou, N. & Nei, M. (1987). The neighbor-joining method: a new method for reconstructing phylogenetic trees. Mol Biol Evol 4, 406–425.[Abstract]

Sasser, M. (1990). Identification of bacteria by gas chromatography of cellular fatty acids. Technical Note 101. Newark, DE: MIDI.

Shin, Y. K., Lee, J.-S., Chun, C. O., Kim, H.-J. & Park, Y.-H. (1996). Isoprenoid quinone profiles of the Leclercia adecarboxylata KCTC 1036T. J Microbiol Biotechnol 6, 68–69.

Stackebrandt, E. & Goebel, B. M. (1994). Taxonomic note: a place for DNA-DNA reassociation and 16S rRNA sequence analysis in the present species definition in bacteriology. Int J Syst Bacteriol 44, 846–849.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

Tamaoka, J. & Komagata, K. (1984). Determination of DNA base composition by reversed phase high-performance liquid chromatography. FEMS Microbiol Lett 25, 125–128.

Thompson, J. D., Gibson, T. J., Plewniak, F., Jeanmougin, F. & Higgins, D. G. (1997). The CLUSTAL_X windows interface: flexible strategies for multiple sequence alignment aided by quality analysis tools. Nucleic Acids Res 25, 4876–4882.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

Weisburg, W. G., Barns, S. M., Pelletier, D. A. & Lane, D. J. (1991). 16S ribosomal DNA amplification for phylogenetic study. J Bacteriol 173, 697–703.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

Yang, D.-C., Im, W.-T., Kim, M. K. & Lee, S.-T. (2005). Pseudoxanthomonas koreensis sp. nov. and Pseudoxanthomonas daejeonensis sp. nov. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 55, 787–791.[Abstract/Free Full Text]




This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
Int. J. Syst. Evol. Microbiol.Home page
M. M. Friedrich and A. Lipski
Alkanibacter difficilis gen. nov., sp. nov. and Singularimonas variicoloris gen. nov., sp. nov., hexane-degrading bacteria isolated from a hexane-treated biofilter
Int J Syst Evol Microbiol, October 1, 2008; 58(10): 2324 - 2329.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


This Article
Right arrow Abstract Freely available
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Kim, M. K.
Right arrow Articles by Yang, D.-C.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Kim, M. K.
Right arrow Articles by Yang, D.-C.
Agricola
Right arrow Articles by Kim, M. K.
Right arrow Articles by Yang, D.-C.


HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
INT J SYST EVOL MICROBIOL MICROBIOLOGY J GEN VIROL
J MED MICROBIOL ALL SGM JOURNALS