PNNL

Abstract

A thermophilic, filamentous, heterotrophic bacterium designated strain JAD2T was isolated from sediment of Great Boiling Spring in Nevada, USA. Cells had an average diameter of 0.3 µm and length of 4.0 µm, and formed filaments typically ranging in length from 20 µm to 200 µm. Filaments were negative for the Gram stain reaction, spores were not formed, and motility was not observed. The optimum temperature for growth was 75 °C with a range from 67.5-75 °C, and the optimum pH for growth was 6.75 with a range from 6.5-7.75. Peptone, tryptone or yeast extract were able to support growth when supplemented with a vitamin solution, but no growth was observed using a variety of defined organic substrates. Strain JAD2T was a facultative microaerophile, with optimal growth at 1% v/v O2 and an upper limit of 8% O2, and anaerobic growth was stimulated by fumarate but inhibited by sulfite and elemental sulfur. The major cellular fatty acids (>5%) were C16:0, C19:0, C18:0, C20:0, and C19:1. The genomic DNA G+C content was 69.3%. Phylogenetic and phylogenomic analyses using 16S rRNA gene sequences and other conserved genes placed JAD2T and other members of the yet-uncultivated GAL35 group within the phylum Chloroflexi, but not within any existing class in this phylum. These results indicate that strain JAD2T is the first cultivated representative of a new lineage within the phylum Chloroflexi, for which we propose the name Thermoflexus hugenholtzii gen. nov., sp. nov., type strain JAD2T, within Thermoflexia classis nov., Thermoflexales ord. nov., and Thermoflexaceae fam. nov.