Abstract
An agar-fermenting bacterium (strain 16AV) was isolated from the sediment of an abattoir effluent waste pond. The cells were curved rods, non-motile, gramnegative, and did not form endospores. Old cultures produced spherical bodies that were not refractile and did not survive pasteurization at 80°C for 5 min. Spherical cells were viable after at least 10 months storage at room temperature. The bacterium was metabolically restricted and grew only on agar, agarose, galactose, and cellobiose. No inorganic electron acceptors were reduced. Acetate and ethanol were produced as end products. Strain 16AV grew between 20 and 37°C, with optimum growth occurring at 28°C. Growth occurred in medium containing NaCl from 0 to 15 g l-1, with an optimum between 2.5 and 5 g l-1. The DNA base composition was 39.5 mol% G+C. 16S rDNA sequence analysis showed that strain 16AV falls within the radiation of members of the genus Clostridium and related taxa. This is the first description of an obligate anaerobe capable of degrading agar.
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Rees, G.N., Rainey, F.A. & Harfoot, C.G. Characterization of a novel obligate anaerobe that ferments agar. Arch. Microbiol. 162, 395–400 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00282103
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00282103