Isolation and characterization of Sulfurospirillum carboxydovorans sp. nov., a new microaerophilic carbon monoxide oxidizing epsilon Proteobacterium.

A new microaerophilic, Gram-negative, motile, 2-3 microm long and 0.3 microm wide, vibrioid to spirillum-shaped, CO oxidizing bacterium, designated strain MV, isolated from marine sediment (The North Sea) is described. Strain MV was able to couple the oxidation of CO to the reduction of elemental sulphur, DMSO and thiosulphate. Growth occurred with up to 100% (v/v) CO in the headspace. Acetate was needed as carbon source. No growth on CO was observed with nitrate and selenate as electron acceptor. Sulphite, elemental sulphur, DMSO, thiosulphate, nitrate, nitrite, perchloroethylene, arsenate and selenate were used as electron acceptors with pyruvate as energy and carbon source. Microaerophilic growth was observed. In non-agitated cultures growth occurred at atmospheric oxygen concentrations in the headspace. Hydrogen (with acetate as carbon source), formate (with acetate as carbon source), pyruvate, lactate, succinate, fumarate, malate alpha-ketoglutaric acid, aspartate and yeast extract (1% (w/v)) supported growth with nitrate as electron acceptor. Fumarate and malate were fermented. Vitamins were not required for growth. The strain was cytochrome C oxidase and catalase positive. The DNA mol G+C content was 30.5%. 16S rRNA gene sequence comparison showed that strain MV grouped within the genus Sulfurospirillum with Sulfurospirillum arcachonense (sequence similarity 98.3%) as closest relative. The relative DNA-DNA relatedness between strain MV and S. arcachonense was 33.1%. Based on a detailed phenotypic and phylogenetic analysis, inclusion of strain MV in the genus Sulfurospirillum as a well separated new species is proposed. As species name we propose Sulfurospirillum carboxydovorans. The type strain is strain MV (ATCC BAA-937 = DSM 16295, GenBank accession number: AY740528).