A new lineage of halophilic, wall-less, contractile bacteria from a brine-filled deep of the Red Sea.

ABSTRACT: A novel strictly anaerobic bacterium designated strain SSD-17B(T) was isolated from the hypersaline brine-sediment interface of the Shaban Deep, Red Sea. Cells were pleomorphic but usually consisted of a central coccoid body with one or two "tentacle-like" protrusions. These protrusions actively alternated between a straight, relaxed form and a contracted, corkscrew-like one. A peptidoglycan layer was not detected by electron microscopy. The organism forms "fried-egg"-like colonies on MM-X medium. The organism is strictly anaerobic and halophilic and has an optimum temperature for growth of about 30 to 37 degrees C and an optimum pH of about 7. Nitrate and nitrite are reduced; lactate is a fermentation product. The fatty acid profile is dominated by straight saturated and unsaturated chain

SUBMITTER: Antunes A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2394993 | biostudies-literature | 2008 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature