Unexpected 16S rRNA heterogeneity in '<i>Acetobacterium dehalogenans</i>' and reclassification as <i>Acetobacterium malicum</i> subsp. <i>dehalogenans</i> subsp. nov.

ABSTRACT: Strain MC^T is a strictly anaerobic, homoacetogenic bacterium with the ability to utilize methyl chloride as the sole energy source. It was tentatively assigned to the genus Acetobacterium as 'Acetobacterium dehalogenans'. Due to sequence ambiguities, it was not possible to determine the 16S rRNA gene sequence of this strain by direct sequencing of a PCR-amplified DNA segment. Whole-genome sequencing revealed significant heterogeneity amongst the five rRNA operons detected in this strain, with maximum sequence differences between the individual 16S rRNA genes exceeding 1.4%, compared to <0.8% in related species. Genome comparisons identified strain MC^T as most closely related to Acetobacterium malicum MuME1^T, with a digital DNA-DNA hybri

SUBMITTER: Spring S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12062537 | biostudies-literature | 2025 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature