Open AccessThermus oshimai sp. nov., Isolated from Hot Springs in Portugal, Iceland, and the Azores, and Comment on the Concept of a Limited Geographical Distribution of Thermus Species
Author(s) -
Ruth Williams,
Kelvin E. Smith,
S.G. Welch,
Janice Micallef
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
international journal of systematic bacteriology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1070-6259
pISSN - 0020-7713
DOI - 10.1099/00207713-46-2-403
Subject(s) - thermus , thermus thermophilus , thermus aquaticus , thermophile , biology , bacteria , microbiology and biotechnology , hot spring , fastidious organism , genetics , gene , escherichia coli , paleontology
We examined aerobic, thermophilic, gram-negative bacteria that were isolated from hot springs in Portugal and were identified as Thermus strains and placed in phenetic groups on the basis of their phenotypic characteristics. We determined the composition of the peptidoglycan, identified the respiratory quinones, and determined the mean base composition of the DNA, and the levels of DNA-DNA homology were determined by both the filter hybridization and reassociation rate methods. Thermus aquaticus, Thermus brockianus, and Thermus filiformis were not detected in this collection of organisms, although three Thermus thermophilus strains were identified. We propose that the isolates that belonged to phenetic clusters E and F are members of a new species, Thermus oshimai; the type strain of T. oshimai is strain SPS17.