Thioalkalivibrio sulfidiphilus sp. nov., a haloalkaliphilic, sulfur-oxidizing gammaproteobacterium from alkaline habitats

Abstract

A moderately salt-tolerant and obligately alkaliphilic, chemolithoautotrophic sulfur-oxidizing bacterium, strain HL-EbGr7(T), was isolated from a full-scale bioreactor removing H(2)S from biogas under oxygen-limited conditions. Another strain, ALJ17, closely related to HL-EbGr7(T), was isolated from a Kenyan soda lake. Cells of the isolates were relatively long, slender rods, motile by a polar flagellum. Although both strains were obligately aerobic, micro-oxic conditions were preferred, especially at the beginning of growth. Chemolithoautotrophic growth was observed with sulfide and thiosulfate in a pH range of 8.0-10.5 (optimum at pH 10.0) and a salinity range of 0.2-1.5 M total Na(+) (optimum at 0.4 M). The genome sequence of strain HL-EbGr7(T) demonstrated the presence of genes encoding the reverse Dsr pathway and a truncated Sox pathway for sulfur oxidation and enzymes of the Calvin-Benson cycle of autotrophic CO(2) assimilation with ribulose-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (RuBisCO) type I. The dominant cellular fatty acids were C(18:1)ω7, C(16:0) and C(19:0) cyclo. Based on 16S rRNA gene sequencing, the two strains belonged to a single phylotype within the genus Thioalkalivibrio in the Gammaproteobacteria. Despite being related most closely to Thioalkalivibrio denitrificans, the isolates were unable to grow by denitrification. On the basis of phenotypic and phylogenetic analysis, the novel isolates are proposed to represent a novel species, Thioalkalivibrio sulfidiphilus sp. nov., with the type strain HL-EbGr7(T) ( = NCCB 100376(T) = UNIQEM U246(T)).