Desulfonatronum parangueonense sp. nov., a sulfate-reducing bacterium isolated from sediment of an alkaline crater lake.

Novel Gram-stain-negative, non-spore-forming, vibrio-shaped, anaerobic, alkaliphilic, sulfate-reducing bacteria, designated strains PAR180 and PAR190, were isolated from sediments collected at an alkaline crater lake in Guanajuato (Mexico). Strain PAR180 grew at temperatures between 15 and 40 °C (optimum 35 °C), and at pH between 8.3 and 10.4 (optimum 9). It was halotolerant, growing with up to 8 % (w/v) NaCl. Lactate, formate, pyruvate and ethanol were used as electron donors in the presence of sulfate and were incompletely oxidized to acetate and CO2. The isolate was able to grow with hydrogen and with CO2 as a carbon source. Beside sulfate, sulfite and thiosulfate were used as terminal electron acceptors. The isolate was able to grow by disproportionation of sulfite and thiosulfate, but not elemental sulfur, using acetate as a carbon source. The predominant fatty acids were C16 : 0, C16 : 1ω7c and summed feature 10 (C18 : 1ω7c and/or C18 : 1ω9t and/or C18 : 1ω12t). The DNA G+C content was 56.1 mol%. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that it belongs to the genus Desulfonatronum, class Deltaproteobacteria. Its closest relative is Desulfonatronum thiosulfatophilum (98.7 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity). The DNA-DNA relatedness value between strain PAR180 and the type strain of D. thiosulfatophilum was 37.1±2.5 %. On the basis of phylogenetic, phenotypic and chemotaxonomic characteristics, the isolates is considered to represent a novel species of the genus Desulfonatronum, for which the name Desulfonatronum parangueonense sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is PAR180 (=DSM 103602=JCM 31598).