Deferrisoma palaeochoriense sp. nov., a thermophilic, iron(III)-reducing bacterium from a shallow-water hydrothermal vent in the Mediterranean Sea

Ileana Pérez-Rodríguez, Matthew Rawls, D Katharine Coykendall, Dionysis I Foustoukos

A novel thermophilic, anaerobic, mixotrophic bacterium, designated strain MAG-PB1T, was isolated from a shallow-water hydrothermal vent system in Paleochori Bay off the coast of Milos Island, Greece. The cells were Gram-negative, rugose short rods approximately 1.0 μm in length and 0.5 μm in width. Strain MAG-PB1T grew between 30 and 70 °C (optimum 60 °C), 0 and 50 g NaCl l-1 (optimum 15-20 g l-1) and pH 5.5 and 8.0 (optimum pH 6.0). Generation time under optimal conditions was 2.5 hours. Optimal growth occurred under chemolithoautotrophic conditions with H2 as the energy source and CO2 as the carbon source. Fe(III), Mn(IV), arsenate and selenate were used as electron acceptors. Peptone, tryptone, Casamino acids, dextrose, sucrose, yeast extract, D-fructose, α-D-glucose and D-(-)-arabinose also served as electron donors. No growth occurred in the presence of lactate or formate. G + C content of the genomic DNA was 66.7 mol%. Phylogenetic analysis of the 16S rRNA gene sequence indicated that this organism is closely related to Deferrisoma camini, a recently described genus in the Deltaproteobacteria. Based on the 16S rDNA phylogenetic analysis and on physiological, biochemical and structural characteristics, the strain was found to represent a novel species for which the name Deferrisoma paleochoriense sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain of Deferrisoma paleochoriense is MAG-PB1T (=JCM 30394 T; = DSM 29363T).