Sulfobacillus thermotolerans sp. nov., a thermotolerant, chemolithotrophic bacterium.

A thermotolerant, Gram-positive, aerobic, endospore-forming, acidophilic bacterium (strain Kr1T) was isolated from the pulp of a gold-containing sulfide concentrate processed at 40 degrees C in a gold-recovery plant (Siberia). Cells of strain Kr1(T) were straight to slightly curved rods, 0.8-1.2 microm in diameter and 1.5-4.5 microm in length. Strain Kr1T formed spherical and oval, refractile, subterminally located endospores. The temperature range for growth was 20-60 degrees C, with an optimum at 40 degrees C. The pH range for growth on medium containing ferrous iron was 1.2-2.4, with an optimum at pH 2.0; the pH range for growth on medium containing S0 was 2.0-5.0, with an optimum at pH 2.5. Strain Kr1T was mixotrophic, oxidizing ferrous iron, S0, tetrathionate or sulfide minerals as energy sources in the presence of 0.02 % yeast extract or other organic substrates. The G+C content of the DNA of strain Kr1T was 48.2+/-0.5 mol%. Strain Kr1T showed a low level of DNA-DNA reassociation with the known Sulfobacillus species (11-44 %). 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis revealed that Kr1T formed a separate phylogenetic group with a high degree of similarity between the nucleotide sequences (98.3-99.6 %) and 100 % bootstrap support within the phylogenetic Sulfobacillus cluster. On the basis of its physiological properties and the results of phylogenetic analyses, strain Kr1T can be affiliated to a novel species of the genus Sulfobacillus, for which the name Sulfobacillus thermotolerans sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is Kr1T (=VKM B-2339T=DSM 17362T).