Wukongibacter baidiensis gen. nov., sp. nov., an anaerobic bacterium isolated from hydrothermal sulfides, and proposal for the reclassification of the closely related Clostridium halophilum and Clostridium caminithermale within Maledivibacter gen. nov. and Paramaledivibacter gen. nov., respectively.

An anaerobic, Gram-stain-positive, spore-forming bacterium, designated DY30321T, was isolated from a sample of mixed hydrothermal sulfides collected during cruise DY30 of R/V Da Yang Yi Hao. Cells of strain DY30321T were rod-shaped with rounded ends, and were not motile. Strain DY30321T grew optimally at pH 8.0, at 30 °C and at a salinity (sea salts) of 30-40 g l-1. The principal fatty acids of strain DY30321T were C14 : 0 and summed feature 1 (comprising iso H-C15 : 1/C13 : 0 3-OH). The predominant polar lipids of strain DY30321T were diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine. No respiratory quinone was detected. The G+C content of the genomic DNA of strain DY30321T was 33.4 mol%. Phylogenetically, strain DY30321T branched within the family Peptostreptococcaceae, with (misclassified) Clostridium halophilum M1T being its closest phylogenetic relative (94.6 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity), followed by (misclassified) Clostridium caminithermale DVird3T (92.1 %). These strains showed very low 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity (<84 %) to Clostrdium butyricum ATCC 19398T, the type species of the genus Clostridium sensu stricto. On the basis of its phenotypic, phylogenetic and chemotaxonomic characteristics, strain DY30321T (=KCTC 15549T=MCCC 1A01532T) is considered as the type strain of a novel species of a new genus in the family Peptostreptococcaceae, for which the name Wukongibacterbaidiensis gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. Maledivibacter gen. nov. is proposed to accommodate Clostridium halophilum as Maledivibacter halophilus comb. nov. (type species of the genus), and Paramaledivibacter gen. nov. to accommodate Clostridium caminithermale as Paramaledivibacter caminithermalis comb. nov. (type species of the genus).