Sulfurovum aggregans sp. nov., a hydrogen-oxidizing, thiosulfate-reducing chemolithoautotroph within the Epsilonproteobacteria isolated from a deep-sea hydrothermal vent chimney, and an emended description of the genus Sulfurovum.

A novel mesophilic, strictly hydrogen-oxidizing, sulfur-, nitrate- and thiosulfate-reducing bacterium, designated strain Monchim33(T), was isolated from a deep-sea hydrothermal vent chimney at the Central Indian Ridge. The non-motile, rod-shaped cells were Gram-stain-negative and non-sporulating. Growth was observed between 15 and 37 °C (optimum 33 °C; 3.2 h doubling time) and between pH 5.4 and 8.6 (optimum pH 6.0). The isolate was a strictly anaerobic chemolithoautotroph capable of using molecular hydrogen as the sole energy source and carbon dioxide as the sole carbon source. The G+C content of the genomic DNA was 42.6 mol%. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that the novel isolate belonged to the genus Sulfurovum and was closely related to Sulfurovum sp. NBC37-1 and Sulfurovum lithotrophicum 42BK(T) (95.6 and 95.4 % similarity, respectively). DNA-DNA hybridization demonstrated that the novel isolate could be differentiated genotypically from Sulfurovum sp. NBC37-1 and Sulfurovum lithotrophicum. On the basis of the molecular and physiological traits of the new isolate, the name Sulfurovum aggregans sp. nov. is proposed, with the type strain Monchim33(T) ( = JCM 19824(T) = DSM 27205(T)).