Nitratiruptor tergarcus gen. nov., sp. nov. and Nitratifractor salsuginis gen. nov., sp. nov., nitrate-reducing chemolithoautotrophs of the epsilon-Proteobacteria isolated from a deep-sea hydrothermal system in the Mid-Okinawa Trough.

Two novel denitrifying bacteria, designated strains MI55-1(T) and E9I37-1(T), were isolated from deep-sea hydrothermal vent chimney structures at the Iheya North hydrothermal field in the Mid-Okinawa Trough, Japan. Both isolates were strict chemolithoautotrophs growing by respiratory nitrate reduction with H(2), forming N(2) as a metabolic product. Oxygen (at low concentrations) could serve as an alternative electron acceptor for growth of the isolates. Growth of strain MI55-1(T) was observed at temperatures between 40 and 57 degrees C (optimum, 55 degrees C; doubling time, 2 h), at pH values between 5.4 and 6.9 (optimum, pH 6.4) and in the presence of between 1.5 and 4.0 % (w/v) NaCl (optimum, 2.5 %). Growth of strain E9I37-1(T) was observed at temperatures between 28 and 40 degrees C (optimum, 37 degrees C; doubling time, 2.5 h), at pH values between 5.6 and 7.6 (optimum, pH 7.0) and in the presence of between 1.5 and 3.5 % (w/v) NaCl (optimum, 3.0 %). The G+C contents of the genomic DNA of strains MI55-1(T) and E9I37-1(T) were 29.6 and 35.5 mol%, respectively. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that strains MI55-1(T) and E9I37-1(T) belonged to groups A and F of the epsilon-Proteobacteria, but that they had distant phylogenetic relationships with any species, within the phylogenetic groups, that had validly published names (sequence similarities were less than 91 %). On the basis of the physiological and molecular characteristics of the novel isolates, it is proposed that they should each be classified in a novel genus: Nitratiruptor tergarcus gen. nov., sp. nov., with MI55-1(T) (=JCM 12459(T)=DSM 16512(T)) as the type strain, and Nitratifractor salsuginis gen. nov., sp. nov., with E9I37-1(T) (=JCM 12458(T)=DSM 16511(T)) as the type strain.