Rhodovulum lacipunicei sp. nov., an obligate sulfide-demanding phototrophic alphaproteobacterium isolated from a purple pond in India

Abstract

An ovoid-rod-shaped, phototrophic, purple non-sulfur bacterium, designated strain JA322T, was isolated in pure culture from a water sample collected from a saline pond with purple-coloured water, located near Satpada in Orissa, India. Strain JA322T was Gram-negative and non-motile and grew photoheterotrophically with a number of organic compounds serving as carbon sources or electron donors. Intracellular photosynthetic membranes were of the vesicular type. Bacteriochlorophyll a and carotenoids of the spheroidene series were present as photosynthetic pigments. Biotin and thiamine were required for growth of strain JA322T. Phylogenetic analysis on the basis of 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain JA322T was related most closely to the type strains of Rhodovulum euryhalinum (95.8% similarity) and Rhodovulum strictum (94.8 %) and clustered with species of the genus Rhodovulum of the family Rhodobacteraceae. On the basis of phenotypic and molecular genetic evidence, it is suggested that strain JA322T represents a novel species of the genus Rhodovulum, for which the name Rhodovulum lacipunicei sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is JA322T (=NBRC 104147T=KCTC 5700T). © 2009 IUMS.