Thermalkalibacillus uzonensis gen. nov. sp. nov, a novel aerobic alkali-tolerant thermophilic bacterium isolated from a hot spring in Uzon Caldera, Kamchatka

A novel thermophilic, alkali-tolerant, and CO-tolerant strain JW/WZ-YB58(T) was isolated from green mat samples obtained from the Zarvarzin II hot spring in the Uzon Caldera, Kamchatka (Far East Russia). Cells were Gram-type and Gram stain-positive, strictly aerobic, 0.7-0.8 mum in width and 5.5-12 mum in length and produced terminal spherical spores of 1.2-1.6 mum in diameter with the mother cell swelling around 2 mum in diameter (drumstick-type morphology). Cells grew optimally at pH(25 degrees C) 8.2-8.4 and temperature 50-52 degrees C and tolerated maximally 6% (w/v) NaCl. They were strict heterotrophs and could not use either CO or CO(2 )(both with or without H(2)) as sole carbon source, but tolerated up to 90% (v/v) CO in the headspace. The isolate grew on various complex substrates such as yeast extract, on carbohydrates, and organic acids, which included starch, D: -galactose, D: -mannose, glutamate, fumarate and acetate. Catalase reaction was negative. The membrane polar lipids were dominated by branched saturated fatty acids, which included iso-15:0 (24.5%), anteiso-15:0 (18.3%), iso-16:0 (9.9%), iso-17:0 (17.5%) and anteiso-17:0 (9.7%) as major constituents. The DNA G+C content of the strain is 45 mol%. Phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that strain JW/WZ-YB58(T) is distantly (<93% similarity) related to members of Bacillaceae. On the basis of 16S rRNA gene sequence, physiological and phenotypic characteristics, the isolate JW/WZ-YB58(T) (ATCC BAA-1258; DSM 17740) is proposed to be the type strain for the type species of the new taxa within the family Bacillaceae, Thermalkalibacillus uzoniensis gen. nov. sp. nov. The Genbank accession number for the 16S rRNA gene sequence is DQ221694.