Bacillus stamsii sp. nov., a facultatively anaerobic sugar degrader that is numerically dominant in freshwater lake sediment

Abstract

A novel type of anaerobic bacteria was previously isolated from profundal lake sediment by direct dilution of the sediment in mineral agar medium containing glucose and a background lawn of Methanospirillum hungatei as a syntrophic partner. The isolated bacteria grouped with aerobic Bacillus spp. according to their 16S rRNA gene sequence, and the most closely related species is Bacillus thioparans. Fermentative growth of the novel strain with glucose was possible only in the presence of syntrophic partners, and cocultures produced acetate and methane, in some cases also lactate and traces of succinate as fermentation products. In contrast, the closely related strains Bacillus jeotgali and Bacillus sp. strain PeC11 are able to grow with glucose axenically by mixed acid fermentation yielding lactate, acetate, formate, succinate, and ethanol as fermentation products. Alternatively, the isolated strain grew anaerobically in pure culture if pyruvate was added to glucose-containing media, and lactate, acetate and formate were the major fermentation products, but the strain never produced ethanol. Aerobic growth was found with a variety of organic substrates in the presence of partly reduced sulfur compounds. In the absence of sulfide and oxygen, nitrate served as an electron acceptor. Strain BoGlc83 was characterized as the type strain of a new species for which the name Bacillus stamsii sp. nov. (DSM 19598=JCM 30025) is proposed.