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A new extremely thermophilic, sulfur-reducing heterotrophic, marine bacterium

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Abstract

An extremely thermophilic (optimum growth at 88° C), anaerobic bacterium was isolated from a shallow submarine thermal spring. It appears to be an obligate heterotroph, capable of reducing sulfur to H2S. Oxygen sensitivity is apparent only at and above those temperatures where growth occurs, while the cultures retain their viability for long periods under air at 4° C. Insensitivity to chloramphenicol, vancomycin and streptomycin, and lack of muramic acid in its cell wall, indicate a possible affilitation of the new isolate to the thermoacidophilic archaebacteria. However, its neutrophilic and hetertrophic nature, as well as its DNA base composition (39.1 mol % guanine plus cytosine) set it apart from the known genera of this group.

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Abbreviations

ASW:

Artifical sea water medium

Bis-tris propane:

1,3-bis[tris(hydroxymethyl)-methylamino]-propane

Mes:

2(N-morpholino)ethanesulfonic acid

Pipes:

Piperazine-N,N′-bis(2-ethanesulfonic acid)

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Author notes

  1. Shimshon Belkin

    Present address: Membrane Bioenergetics Group, University of California, 94720, Berkeley, CA, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 02543, Woods Hole, MA, USA

    Shimshon Belkin & Holger W. Jannasch

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  1. Shimshon Belkin
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  2. Holger W. Jannasch
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Belkin, S., Jannasch, H.W. A new extremely thermophilic, sulfur-reducing heterotrophic, marine bacterium. Arch. Microbiol. 141, 181–186 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00408055

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00408055

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