Diversity of Bacillus-like organisms isolated from deep-sea hypersaline anoxic sediments

Aquatic Biosystems

Table 1 Phenotypic characteristics of isolates from brine-lake sediments

	L'Atalante							Bannock							Discovery					Urania
	AS2	AS3	AS5	AS6	AS7	AS12	AS28	BS3	BS6	BS12	BS17	BS18	BS25	BS29	DS1	DS5	DS9	DS10	DS16	US1	US2	US4	US7	US13	US16
Salinity of isolation medium [% NaCl]	12	12	12	3.5	3.5	3.5	3.5	3.5	3.5	3.5	12	12	3.5	3.5	12	3.5	3.5	3.5	3.5	3.5	3.5	3.5	3.5	12	12
Max. NaCl [%]	30	30	22	15	15	10	5	15	10	10	22	25	5	10	20	10	5	10	10	15	15	15	10	30	22
Growth at
4°C	-	-	-	-	-	+	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	+	+	+	+	-	+	-	-	-	-	-
45°C	+	+	-	+	+	-	+	+	+	-	+	+	-	+	+	+	+	+	-	+	+	+	+	+	-
53°C	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	+	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	+	+	-	-	-
pH 5.5	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	-	-	+	+	+	+	-	+	+	+	-	-	-
pH 6.5	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	-	+	+	+	+	+	-	+	+	+	+	-	+
pH 9.0	+	+	+	+	+	+	-	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+
Fermentation¹⁾	+	+	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	+	+	-	-	-
Motility	+	+	+	+	+	+	-	+	+	+	+	+	+	-	+	+	-	+	+	+	+	+	-	+	+
Enzyme activity
Polymer degr.²⁾	2	2	4	4	4	2	3	4	3	2	3	2	0	5	5	4	4	3	1	4	6	6	5	2	3
Nitrite prod.	-	-	-	-	-	+	+	-	-	-	-	+	+	+	+	+	-	-	-	-	+	+	+	-	+
β-Galactosidase	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	-	+	+	-	+	+	+	+	+	-	+	-	-	+	+	+	-	+
Arginine dehyd.	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	+	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	+	+	-	-	-
Urease	-	-	-	-	-	-	+	-	-	-	-	+	-	-	-	-	-	+	+	-	+	-	-	-	-
Acetoin prod.	-	-	-	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	-
Catalase	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	-	+	+	+	-	+	+	+	+	+	-
Oxidase	-	-	-	-	-	+	+	-	-	+	+	+	-	-	-	-	+	-	-	+	+	-	-	+	-
Substrate utilization³⁾
Poly- and disaccharides (8)	5	5	5	7	6	5	6	5	6	6	6	6	6	6	0	0	6	5	3	6	4	4	6	4	6
Monosaccharides (14)	9	9	5	6	8	9	8	9	5	9	10	9	6	8	3	1	12	13	11	10	12	12	9	9	10
Alcohols (5)	1	1	0	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	1	1	1	1	1	5	3	0	1	1	1	1	1	1
Fatty acids (4)	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	2	1	0	1	0	0	2	1	0	2	0	0	4	0	0
Carboxylic acids (7)	5	5	0	5	6	0	3	4	5	2	6	7	0	7	1	1	7	7	6	4	6	4	7	6	0
Amino acids (20)	7	7	0	8	6	0	4	5	3	2	9	0	7	3	0	0	5	8	5	7	4	4	6	4	7
Betaine, Salicylate, benzoate	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
Alkanes (2)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

¹⁾ Fermentation: fermentative growth with yeast extract. Note that while strain US13 did not grow by fermentation, it grew using dimethylsulfoxide or trimethylamine N-oxide as electron acceptor.
²⁾ Number of positive results for polymer hydrolysis out of seven different tests; all strains used the complex substrates yeast extract, casamino acids and bactopeptone; all strains tested positive for tryptophan deaminase; and all strains tested negative for N₂ production from nitrate, lysine decarboxylase, ornithine decarboxylase, H₂S production, indole production. Degr. = degradation, prod. = production, dehyd. = dehydrogenase.
³⁾ Numbers in brackets indicate the number of tested compounds in the respective category (see Methods for details of substrates tested); none of the isolates used serine, leucine, methionine or tyrosine. All isolates grew with yeast extract, peptone and casamino acids.