Search

A moderately thermophilic, Gram-positive, endospore-forming, sulfate-reducing bacterium was isolated from a fluidized-bed reactor treating acidic water containing metal and sulfate. The strain, designated RE35E1T, was rod-shaped and motile. The temperature range for growth was 33-51 degrees C (optimum 44-46 degrees C) and the pH range was 6.0-7.5 (optimum pH 6.4-7.3). The strain grew optimally without additional NaCl. The electron acceptors were 10 mM sulfate, thiosulfate and elemental sulfur and 1 mM (but not 10 mM) sulfite. Various alcohols and carboxylic acids were utilized as electron donors. Fermentative growth occurred on pyruvate. The cell wall contained meso-diaminopimelic acid, and the major respiratory isoprenoid quinone was menaquinone MK-7. The major whole-cell fatty acids were iso-C15 : 0, iso-C17 : 1 omega 10c and iso-C17 : 0. Strain RE35E1T was related to representatives of the genera Desulfotomaculum and Sporotomaculum, the closest relatives being Desulfotomaculum arcticum DSM 17038T (96.3 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity) and Sporotomaculum hydroxybenzoicum DSM 5475T (92.0 % similarity). Strain RE35E1T represents a novel species, for which the name Desulfotomaculum alcoholivorax sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is RE35E1T (=DSM 16058T=JCM 14019T).

A thermophilic terephthalate-degrading methanogenic consortium was successfully enriched for 272 days in an anaerobic hybrid reactor, and the microbial structure was characterized using terminal RFLPs, clone libraries and fluorescence in-situ hybridization with rRNA-targeted oligonucleotide probes. All the results suggested that Methanothrix thermophila-related methanogens, Desulfotomaculum-related bacterial populations in the Gram-positive low-G + C group, and OP5-related populations were the key members responsible for terephthalate degradation under thermophilic methanogenic conditions except during periods when the reactor experienced heat shock and pump failure. These perturbations caused a significant shift in bacterial population structure in sludge samples taken from the sludge bed but not from the surface of the packing materials. After system recovery, many other bacterial populations emerged, which belonged mainly to the Gram-positive low-G + C group and Cytophaga-Flexibacter-Bacteroides, as well as beta-Proteobacteria, Planctomycetes and Nitrospira. These newly emerged populations were probably also capable of degrading terephthalate in the hybrid system, but were out-competed by those bacterial populations before perturbations.

Four strains of thermophilic, endospore-forming, sulfate-reducing bacteria were enriched and isolated from hot solfataric fields in the Krafla area of north-east Iceland, using methanol and sulfite as substrates. Morphologically, these strains resembled thermophilic Desulfotomaculum species. The strains grew with alcohols, including methanol, with glucose and fructose as electron donors, and with sulfate, sulfite or thiosulfate as electron acceptors. For all four strains, the optimum temperature and pH for growth were 60 degrees C and pH 7.3, respectively; no added NaCl was required. Phylogenetic analysis based on partial 16S rRNA gene sequence comparisons showed high levels of similarity of the novel strains (>92 %) with Desulfotomaculum kuznetsovii and Desulfotomaculum luciae. However, DNA-DNA hybridization studies with D. kuznetsovii revealed that the four strains belonged to one novel species. A representative of this group of isolates, strain V21(T), is proposed as the type strain of a novel species of the spore-forming, sulfate-reducing genus Desulfotomaculum, namely Desulfotomaculum solfataricum (type strain V21(T)=DSM 14956(T)=CIP 107984(T)).