Psychrosinus fermentans gen. nov., sp. nov., a lactate-fermenting bacterium from near-freezing oxycline waters of a meromictic Antarctic lake.

A novel, obligately anaerobic, fermentative bacterium, strain FCF9, was isolated from a 9-m water sample from permanently ice-covered, meromictic Lake Fryxell, Antarctica. A phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequence identity clustered the Antarctic isolate within the Sporomusa-Pectinatus-Selenomonas phyletic group, where it was most closely related to Pelosinus fermentans (95.5% sequence identity). However, unlike species of Pelosinus, strain FCF9 was psychrophilic, with growth occurring optimally near 15 degrees C, and endospores were not produced. The metabolism of the new organism was strictly fermentative. The substrates fermented by strain FCF9 included only lactate and a few related organic acids. The major products from lactate fermentation were acetate and propionate. On the basis of phylogenetic, morphological, and physiological criteria, strain FCF9(T) is proposed as the type strain of a novel genus and species of psychrophilic-fermenting bacteria, Psychrosinus fermentans gen. nov., sp. nov.