A new halotolerant denitrifier, which was isolated from a solar saltern by enrichment culture in liquid medium supplemented with 1.06 M (9%) NaNO3, grew optimally in media containing 0.5 to 1.35 M NaCI, survived and multiplied in media ranging in salinity from 0.35 to 4.25 M NaCI, and tolerated high nitrite ion concentrations, as well as high nitrate ion concentrations. The salt requirement could be provided by 1 M KNO3 or KC1 instead of NaCI. For this nonfermentative organism, nitrate and nitrite were the only electron acceptors tested that supported anaerobic growth on a complex medium. Washed cells reduced both nitrate and nitrite at significant rates. The isolate lacked a nitrous oxide reductase activity, utilized a variety of substrates as carbon and energy sources, and required both growth factors and organic (reduced) sulfur. Ammonia served as a nitrogen source for growth, but nitrate did not. Despite the failure of the organism to sporulate, assignment to the genus Bacillus appeared to be consistent with results of cell constituent analyses and partial 16S ribosomal ribonucleic acid sequencing. We propose the name Bacillus halodenitrificans for this organism. A type culture has been deposited with the American Type Culture Collection, Rockville, Md., as strain ATCC 49067.
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Copyright 1989, International Association of Microbiological Societies
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