Open AccessButyrate‐ and propionate‐degrading syntrophs from permanently cold marine sediments in Skan Bay, Alaska, and description of Algorimarina butyrica gen. nov., sp. nov.
Author(s) -
Kendall Melissa M.,
Liu Yitai,
Boone David R.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
fems microbiology letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.899
H-Index - 151
eISSN - 1574-6968
pISSN - 0378-1097
DOI - 10.1111/j.1574-6968.2006.00380.x
Subject(s) - propionate , butyrate , methanogen , valerate , strain (injury) , biology , bacteria , microbiology and biotechnology , anoxic waters , enrichment culture , 16s ribosomal rna , biochemistry , fermentation , ecology , genetics , anatomy
Two anaerobic, psychrotolerant, syntrophic strains were enriched from permanently cold, shallow anoxic marine sediments in Skan Bay, Alaska. One strain, AK‐B T , oxidized butyrate syntrophically and was isolated in defined coculture with a H 2 ‐using methanogen or in a dixenic coculture that also contained an acetate‐scavenging methanogen. The other enrichment culture syntrophically oxidized propionate. The growth of these syntrophic cultures was very slow: approximately 1 year for cocultures of strain AK‐B T to form colonies and >1 year for the propionate‐oxidizing enrichment to form colonies. Neither culture grew axenically when supplied with the catabolic substrates crotonate, pyruvate, malate, or sulfate plus butyrate or propionate. Strain AK‐B T catabolized iso‐butyrate in syntrophic coculture but did not catabolize valerate or caproate. Phylogenetic analyses of the 16S rRNA gene sequence suggested that strain AK‐B T was only distantly related to cultivated sulfate‐reducing bacteria, and that this strain represented a new genus. We propose Algorimarina butyrica , with strain AK‐B T (=OCM 842 T ), as the type strain. This report is the first description of psychrotolerant as well as marine butyrate‐ and propionate‐oxidizing syntrophic organisms.