Reclassification of 'Sulfobacillus thermosulfidooxidans subsp. thermotolerans' strain K1 as Alicyclobacillus tolerans sp. nov. and Sulfobacillus disulfidooxidans Dufresne et al. 1996 as Alicyclobacillus disulfidooxidans comb. nov., and emended description of the genus Alicyclobacillus.

Comparative analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequences, DNA-DNA hybridization data and phenotypic properties revealed that 'Sulfobacillus thermosulfidooxidans subsp. thermotolerans' strain K1 is not a member of the genus Sulfobacillus. Phylogenetically, strain K1 is closely related to unclassified strains of the genus Alicyclobacillus: the 16S rRNA gene sequence of strain K1 is similar to that of Alicyclobacillus sp. AGC-2 (99.6 %), Alicyclobacillus sp. 5C (98.9 %) and Alicyclobacillus sp. CLG (98.6 %) and bacterium GSM (99.1 %). The 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity values for strain K1 and species of the genus Alicyclobacillus with validly published names were in the range 92.1-94.6 %, and for S. thermosulfidooxidans VKM B-1269(T) the value was 87.7 %. Sulfobacillus disulfidooxidans SD-11(T) was also phylogenetically related to strain K1 (92.6 % sequence similarity) and thus belonged to the genus Alicyclobacillus. Chemotaxonomic data, such as the major cell-membrane lipid components of strains K1 and SD-11(T) (omega-alicyclic fatty acids) and the major isoprenoid quinone (menaquinone MK-7) of strain K1, supported the affiliation of strains K1 and SD-11(T) to the genus Alicyclobacillus. Physiological and molecular biological tests allowed genotypic and phenotypic differentiation of strains K1 and SD-11(T) from the nine Alicyclobacillus species with validly published names. The G+C content of the DNA of strain K1 was 48.7+/-0.6 mol%; that of strain SD-11(T) was 53+/-1 mol%. DNA-DNA reassociation studies showed low relatedness (22 %) between strains K1 and SD-11(T), and even lower relatedness (3-5 %) between these strains and Alicyclobacillus acidocaldarius subsp. acidocaldarius ATCC 27009(T), DSM 446(T). DNA reassociation of strains K1 and SD-11(T) with Alicyclobacillus cycloheptanicus DSM 4006(T) gave values of 15 and 21, respectively. Based on the phenotypic and phylogenetic characteristics of strains K1 and SD-11(T), Alicyclobacillus tolerans sp. nov. (type strain, K1(T)=VKM B-2304(T)=DSM 16297(T)) and Alicyclobacillus disulfidooxidans comb. nov. (type strain, SD-11(T)=ATCC 51911(T)=DSM 12064(T)) are proposed.