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Chlorobium chlorochromatii sp. nov., a symbiotic green sulfur bacterium isolated from the phototrophic consortium “Chlorochromatium aggregatum”

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Abstract

A symbiotic green sulfur bacterium, strain CaD, was isolated from an enrichment culture of the phototrophic consortium “Chlorochromatium aggregatum”. The capability of the epibiont to grow in pure culture indicates that it is not obligately symbiotic. Cells are Gram-negative, nonmotile, rod-shaped and contain chlorosomes. Strain CaD is obligately anaerobic and photolithoautotrophic, using sulfide as electron donor. Acetate and peptone are photoassimilated in the presence of sulfide and hydrogencarbonate. Photosynthetic pigments contain bacteriochlorophylls a and c, and γ-carotene and OH-γ-carotene glucoside laurate as the dominant carotenoids. In cells from pure cultures, chlorosomes are equally distributed along the inner face of the cytoplasmic membrane. In contrast, the distribution of the chlorosomes in symbiotic epibiont cells is uneven, with chlorosomes being entirely absent at the site of attachment to the central bacterium. The symbiotic epibiont cells display a conspicuous additional layered structure at the attachment site. The G + C content of genomic DNA of strain CaD is 46.7 mol%. On the basis of 16S rRNA sequence comparison, the strain is distantly related to Chlorobium species within the green sulfur bacteria phylum (≤94.6% sequence homology). The novel isolate is therefore described as a novel species within the genus Chlorobium, Chlorobium chlorochromatii.

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Abbreviations

BChl:

Bacteriochlorophyll

Bphe:

Bacteriopheophytin

C.:

Chlorochromatium

Cba.:

Chlorobaculum

Chl. :

Chlorobium

DGGE:

Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis

[E, E] BChlc F :

8,12-diethyl Bchlc esterified with farnesol (analogously: [M] methyl [Pr] propyl [I] isobutyl)

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Acknowledgements

We thank Dr. Karin Schubert for support during the HPLC analysis. Silvia Dobler is gratefully acknowledged for skillful technical assistance. This work was supported by a grant of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft to J. Overmann (grant no. Ov 20/10-1).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Bereich Mikrobiologie, Department Biologie I, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Maria-Ward-Str. 1a, 80638, Munich, Germany

    Kajetan Vogl, Jens Glaeser, Kristina R. Pfannes & Jörg Overmann

  2. Bereich Botanik, Department Biologie I, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Menzinger Str.67, 80638, Munich, Germany

    Gerhard Wanner

  3. Institut für Mikro- und Molekularbiologie, Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen, 35392, Giessen, Germany

    Jens Glaeser

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  1. Kajetan Vogl
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Correspondence to Jörg Overmann.

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Vogl, K., Glaeser, J., Pfannes, K.R. et al. Chlorobium chlorochromatii sp. nov., a symbiotic green sulfur bacterium isolated from the phototrophic consortium “Chlorochromatium aggregatum”. Arch Microbiol 185, 363–372 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00203-006-0102-z

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