Three Planctomycetes isolated from biotic surfaces in the Mediterranean Sea and the Pacific Ocean constitute the novel species Symmachiella dynata gen. nov., sp. nov. and Symmachiella macrocystis sp. nov.

Markus Salbreiter,Manfred Rohde,Christian Boedeker,Mike S M Jetten,Mareike Jogler,Anja Heuer,Sandra Wiegand,Muhammad Waqqas,Stijn H Peeters,Patrick Rast,Christian Jogler,Nicolai Kallscheuer

doi:10.1007/s10482-020-01464-9

Abstract

Planctomycetes is a phylum of environmentally important bacteria, which also receive significant attention due to their fascinating cell biology. Access to axenic Planctomycete cultures is crucial to study cell biological features within this phylum in further detail. In this study, we characterise three novel strains, Mal52T, Pan258 and CA54T, which were isolated close to the coasts of the islands Mallorca (Spain) and Panarea (Italy), and from Monterey Bay, CA, USA. The three isolates show optimal growth at temperatures between 22 and 24 °C and at pH 7.5, divide by polar budding, lack pigmentation and form strong aggregates in liquid culture. Analysis of five phylogenetic markers suggests that the strains constitute two novel species within a novel genus in the family Planctomycetaceae. The strains Mal52T (DSM 101177T = VKM B-3432T) and Pan258 were assigned to the species Symmachiella dynata gen nov., sp. nov., while strain CA54T (DSM 104301T = VKM B-3450T) forms a separate species of the same genus, for which we propose the name Symmachiella macrocystis sp. nov.

Highlights

Planctomycetes were first discovered in 1924 and mistakenly acknowledged as eukaryotes (Gimesi 1924), but later reclassified as bacteria (Hirsch 1972)
Planctomycetes are ubiquitous bacteria dwelling in marine, limnic and soil environments, in which they play an important role in the global carbon and nitrogen cycle (Wiegand et al 2018)
For extending the current collection of Planctomycetes available as axenic cultures, here we describe three novel closely related strains, which we isolated from algae close to the island Mallorca, from seagrass leaves close to the island Panarea and from the kelp forest at Monterey Bay in California, USA

Summary

Introduction

Planctomycetes were first discovered in 1924 and mistakenly acknowledged as eukaryotes (Gimesi 1924), but later reclassified as bacteria (Hirsch 1972). In silico genome analyses point towards higher numbers of carbohydrate-active enzymes encoded by Planctomycetes (Ivanova et al 2017; Wallner et al 2005; Wegner et al 2013) In this context, pili originating from crateriform structures and an enlarged periplasmic space are discussed to be part of a specific uptake system, which may allow intracellular digestion of entire high-molecular weight sugar molecules (Boedeker et al 2017). Pili originating from crateriform structures and an enlarged periplasmic space are discussed to be part of a specific uptake system, which may allow intracellular digestion of entire high-molecular weight sugar molecules (Boedeker et al 2017) If true, this strategy is a decisive advantage over the use of extracellular enzymes for degradation since the latter strategy would provide degradable carbon sources to competitors. For extending the current collection of Planctomycetes available as axenic cultures, here we describe three novel closely related strains, which we isolated from algae close to the island Mallorca, from seagrass leaves close to the island Panarea and from the kelp forest at Monterey Bay in California, USA

Materials and methods

Results and discussion

Compliance with ethical standards