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Thermus caldilimi sp. nov., a thermophilic bacterium isolated from a geothermal area

Antonie van Leeuwenhoek volume 112, pages 1767–1774 (2019)Cite this article

Abstract

A Gram-stain negative, aerobic bacterium, designated strain YIM 78456T, was isolated from a hot spring sediment, Ngamring county, Tibet, south-west China. The taxonomic position of the isolate was investigated by a polyphasic approach. The novel isolate was found to be aerobic and rod-shaped. Colonies were observed to be pale yellow and circular. The strain was found to grow at pH 7.0–8.0 (optimum, pH 7.0), 45–65 °C (optimum, 55 °C) and in the presence of up to 1.5% NaCl. Comparison of the 16S rRNA gene sequence of strain YIM 78456T and other members of the genus Thermus showed sequence similarities ranging from 90.3 to 97.3%, with strain YIM 78456T showing close sequence similarity to Thermus caliditerrae YIM 77925T (97.3%). The phylogenetic trees based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain YIM 78456T forms a distinct clade with T. caliditerrae YIM 77925T. The predominant menaquinone was identified as MK-8 and the DNA G+C content was determined to be 65.1 mol%. The major cellular fatty acids (> 10%) were identified as iso-C15:0, anteiso-C15:0 and iso-C17:0. The polar lipids were found to consist of an aminophospholipid, a phospholipid and glycolipids. On the basis of the morphological and chemotaxonomic characteristics, as well as genotypic data, it is proposed that strain YIM 78456T represents a novel species of the genus Thermus, for which the name Thermus caldilimi sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is YIM 78456T (= KCTC 52948T = NBRC 113036T).

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by China Ministry of Science and Technology (No. 2015FY110100), Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 31600103) and Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province, China (No. 2016A030312003).

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Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol and Guangdong Key Laboratory of Plant Resources, School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, 510275, People’s Republic of China

    Meng-Meng Li, Wen-Dong Xian, Xiao-Tong Zhang, Yi-Rui Yin, Yi-Ping Ding, Lan Liu, Bao-Zhu Fang & Wen-Jun Li

  2. School of Resource Environment and Earth Science, Yunnan University, Kunming, 650091, People’s Republic of China

    En-Min Zhou

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  1. Meng-Meng Li
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  2. Wen-Dong Xian
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Contributions

WJL conceived the study. MML, BZF, XTZ, YRY, EMZ, YPD, LL performed research. MML, WDX and XTZ analyzed data. MML, WDX and WJL wrote the paper. All authors approved the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Wen-Jun Li.

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Meng-Meng Li and Wen-Dong Xian have contributed equally to this work.

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Li, MM., Xian, WD., Zhang, XT. et al. Thermus caldilimi sp. nov., a thermophilic bacterium isolated from a geothermal area. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek 112, 1767–1774 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10482-019-01309-0

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Keywords

  • Thermus caldilimi sp. nov.
  • Hot spring
  • Tibet
  • Polyphasic approach