Desulfurispirillum alkaliphilum gen. nov. sp. nov., a novel obligately anaerobic sulfur- and dissimilatory nitrate-reducing bacterium from a full-scale sulfide-removing bioreactor.

Strain SR 1(T)was isolated under anaerobic conditions using elemental sulfur as electron acceptor and acetate as carbon and energy source from the Thiopaq bioreactor in Eerbeek (The Netherlands), which is removing H(2)S from biogas by oxidation to elemental sulfur under oxygen-limiting and moderately haloalkaline conditions. The bacterium is obligately anaerobic, using elemental sulfur, nitrate and fumarate as electron acceptors. Elemental sulfur is reduced to sulfide through intermediate polysulfide, while nitrate is dissimilatory reduced to ammonium. Furthermore, in the presence of nitrate, strain SR 1(T) was able to oxidize limited amounts of sulfide to elemental sulfur during anaerobic growth with acetate. The new isolate is mesophilic and belongs to moderate haloalkaliphiles, with a pH range for growth (on acetate and nitrate) from 7.5 to 10.25 (optimum 9.0), and a salt range from 0.1 to 2.5 M Na(+) (optimum 0.4 M). According to phylogenetic analysis, SR 1(T) is a member of a deep bacterial lineage, distantly related to Chrysiogenes arsenatis (Macy et al. 1996). On the basis of the phenotypic and genetic data, the novel isolate is placed into a new genus and species, Desulfurispirillum alkaliphilum (type strain SR(T)= DSM 18275 = UNIQEM U250).