- Volume 63, Issue Pt_12, 2013

Several closely related, thermophilic and cellulolytic bacterial strains, designated JKG1T, JKG2, JKG3, JKG4 and JKG5, were isolated from a cellulolytic enrichment (corn stover) incubated in the water column of Great Boiling Spring, NV. Strain JKG1T had cells of diameter 0.7–0.9 µm and length ~2.0 µm that formed non-branched, multicellular filaments reaching >300 µm. Spores were not formed and dense liquid cultures were red. The temperature range for growth was 45–65 °C, with an optimum of 55 °C. The pH range for growth was pH 5.6–9.0, with an optimum of pH 7.5. JKG1T grew as an aerobic heterotroph, utilizing glucose, sucrose, xylose, arabinose, cellobiose, CM-cellulose, filter paper, microcrystalline cellulose, xylan, starch, Casamino acids, tryptone, peptone, yeast extract, acetate, citrate, lactate, pyruvate and glycerol as sole carbon sources, and was not observed to photosynthesize. The cells stained Gram-negative. Phylogenetic analysis using 16S rRNA gene sequences placed the new isolates in the class Chloroflexia , but distant from other cultivated members, with the highest sequence identity of 82.5 % to Roseiflexus castenholzii . The major quinone was menaquinone-9; no ubiquinones were detected. The major cellular fatty acids (>5 %) were C18 : 0, anteiso-C17 : 0, iso-C18 : 0, iso-C17 : 0, C16 : 0, iso-C16 : 0 and C17 : 0. The peptidoglycan amino acids were alanine, ornithine, glutamic acid, serine and asparagine. Whole-cell sugars included mannose, rhamnose, glucose, galactose, ribose, arabinose and xylose. Morphological, phylogenetic and chemotaxonomic results suggest that JKG1T is representative of a new lineage within the class Chloroflexia , which we propose to designate Kallotenue papyrolyticum gen. nov., sp. nov., Kallotenuaceae fam. nov., Kallotenuales ord. nov. The type strain of Kallotenue papyrolyticum gen. nov., sp. nov. is JKG1T ( = DSM 26889T = JCM 19132T).

A novel moderately thermophilic, heterotrophic bacterium was isolated from a deep-sea hydrothermal vent deposit from the Mariner field along the Eastern Lau Spreading Center of the south-western Pacific Ocean. Cells were short motile rods (about 0.4×0.8 µm) that occurred singly or in pairs and were surrounded by a sheath-like membrane or ‘toga’. The cells grew between 45 and 65 °C (optimum 57–60 °C) and at pH 4.1–6.0 (optimum pH 5.5–5.7) and grew optimally at 3 % (w/v) NaCl. The isolate grew on a range of carbon and proteinaceous substrates and reduced sulfur. The G+C content of the DNA was about 45 mol%. Phylogenetic analysis of the 16S rRNA gene sequence placed the new isolate as a deeply diverging lineage within the order Thermotogales . Based on the physiological, morphological and phylogenetic data, the isolate represents a novel species of a new genus with the proposed name Mesoaciditoga lauensis gen. nov., sp. nov. The type strain of Mesoaciditoga lauensis is cd-1655RT ( = DSM 25116T = OCM 1212T).

A pink-pigmented, chemo-organotrophic bacterium, designated strain 03SUJ4T, was isolated from the freshwater of Juam reservoir, Republic of Korea (35° 03′ 43′′ N 127° 14′ 15′′ E). Cells were aerobic, Gram-reaction-negative and non-motile rods. Strain 03SUJ4T grew at pH 6–7 (optimum, pH 6) and at 15–30 °C (optimum, 25 °C). Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that the isolate belonged to the genus Terriglobus , showing sequence similarities of 97.09 % and 96.82 % to Terriglobus roseus DSM 18391T and Terriglobus saanensis SP1PR4T, respectively. Low rpoB gene sequence similarity with members of the genus Terriglobus and different fingerprints with the repetitive primers BOX, ERIC and REP indicated that the isolate represented a novel species of the genus Terriglobus . The major cellular fatty acids were iso-C15 : 0, C16 : 0, C20 : 1ω9c, C14 : 0 and summed feature 3 (C16 : 1ω7c/C16 : 1ω6c). The DNA G+C content of strain 03SUJ4T was 63.2±0.1 mol% (mean±sd of three determinations). The predominant menaquinone was MK-8. The major polar lipids were phosphatidylethanolamine, diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol and two unidentified phospholipids. Several phenotypic characteristics served to differentiate the novel isolate from recognized members of the genus Terriglobus . On the basis of the evidence presented in this study, a novel species, Terriglobus aquaticus sp. nov. is proposed for strain 03SUJ4T ( = KCTC 23332T = JCM 17517T).

Oligotrich ciliates are common members of marine microplankton. However, their biodiversity is not well documented. In this study, the morphology and phylogenetic positions of three new oligotrich species, Spirostrombidium apourceolare spec. nov., Spirostrombidium subtropicum spec. nov. and Parallelostrombidium conicum spec. nov., collected from coastal habitats of southern China, were investigated. Spirostrombidium apourceolare is characterized by the girdle kinety which encircles the cell twice as two dextrally oriented whorls with some undulations and by the presence of several macronuclear nodules. Spirostrombidium subtropicum is recognized by the girdle kinety encircling the cell as two dextrally oriented whorls and extrusomes arranged in a stripe along the girdle kinety. Parallelostrombidium conicum differs from its congeners by the obconic body shape and the posterior portion of the girdle kinety extending downwards on the left ventral side to reach the posterior pole. In small-subunit rRNA gene trees, S. subtropicum clusters with Omegastrombidium elegans and Varistrombidium kielum, and Parallelostrombidium conicum is sister to the clade containing Novistrombidium sinicum, Novistrombidium orientale and Parallelostrombidium sp.

Five yeast strains, phenotypically indistinguishable from Yarrowia lipolytica and Yarrowia deformans, were recovered from different animal-related samples. One strain was isolated from a bacon processing plant in Denmark, two strains from chicken liver in the USA, one strain from chicken breast in Hungary and one from minced beef in Hungary. Comparisons of the sequences of their large subunit rRNA gene D1/D2 domain and the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions revealed that, despite their phenotypic similarity, they represent a novel yeast species of the Yarrowia clade with Y. deformans being the genotypically closest relative (LSU rRNA gene D1/D2 and ITS region similarity of 97.0 and 93.7 %, respectively). Yarrowia divulgata f.a., sp. nov. is proposed to accommodate these strains with F6-17T ( = CBS 11013T = CCUG 56725T) as the type strain. Some D1/D2 sequences of yeasts from marine habitats were found in the GenBank database that were identical to those of the strains of Y. divulgata f.a., sp. nov. Unfortunately, these strains were not available for our study.

In the present work, we investigated the phylogenetic position and phenotypic characteristics of eight yeast isolates collected from migratory birds on the island of Ustica, Italy. A phylogenetic analysis based on the D1/D2 region of the large-subunit rRNA gene showed that all isolates clustered as a single separate lineage within the Wickerhamomyces clade. They exhibited distinct morphological and physiological characteristics and were clearly separated from their closest relatives, Wickerhamomyces lynferdii, Wickerhamomyces anomalus and Wickerhamomyces subpelliculosus, in blastn searches. On the basis of the isolation source, physiological features and molecular strain typing carried out with randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD)-PCR and minisatellite-primed (MSP)-PCR analysis, the isolates were identified as strains of the same species. The name Wickerhamomyces sylviae f.a., sp. nov. is proposed to accommodate these novel strains; the type strain is U88A2T ( = PYCC 6345T = CBS 12888T). The MycoBank number is MB 804762.