[A new psychroactive bacterium, Clostridium fimentarium, isolated from cattle manure fermented at a low temperature].

A new psychroactive saccharolytic anaerobic organism was isolated from cattle manure digested at 6 degrees C. The organism is a Gram-positive oligosporous motile rod measuring 0.5-0.6 by 2.1-5.0 microns. It utilizes glucose, fructose, maltose, arabinose, xylose, cellobiose, galactose, and mannose. Fermentation products are acetate, ethanol, lactate, formate, H2, and CO2. Growth is possible within a temperature range of 1-30 degrees C, with an optimum at 20-25 degrees C, and a pH range of 5.5-8.3, with an optimum at 6.8. The DNA GC content is 35.6 mol %. The organism was classified as a new species of the genus Clostridium, C. fimetarium sp. nov. The type strain is Z-2189.