Dehalogenimonas lykanthroporepellens gen. nov., sp. nov., a reductively dehalogenating bacterium isolated from chlorinated solvent-contaminated groundwater

1 Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA 2 Departamento de Zoologia and Centro de Neurociências, Universidade de Coimbra, 3004-517 Coimbra, Portugal 3 Departamento de Bioquímica and Centro de Neurociências, Universidade de Coimbra, 3001-401 Coimbra, Portugal 4 Department of Biological Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA Correspondence William M. Moe moemwil{at}lsu.edu Two recently reported bacterial strains that are able to reductively dehalogenate polychlorinated aliphatic alkanes, including 1,2,3-trichloropropane, 1,2-dichloropropane, 1,1,2,2-tetrachloroethane, 1,1,2-trichloroethane and 1,2-dichloroethane, were further characterized to clarify their taxonomic position. The two strains, designated BL-DC-8 and BL-DC-9 T , were mesophilic, non-spore-forming, non-motile, Gram-negative staining and strictly anaerobic. Cells were irregular cocci, 0.3–0.6 µm in diameter. The two strains were resistant to ampicillin and vancomycin. Hydrogen was utilized as an electron donor. The genomic DNA G+C content of strains BL-DC-8 and BL-DC-9 T was 54.0 and 53.8 mol%, respectively. The major cellular fatty acids were C 18 : 1 9 c , C 16 : 1 9 c , C 16 : 0 and C 14 : 0 . Phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that the strains cluster within the phylum Chloroflexi , but are related only distantly to all recognized taxa in the phylum. Morphological, physiological and chemotaxonomic traits as well as phylogenetic analysis support the conclusion that these two strains represent a novel species of a new genus in the phylum Chloroflexi , for which the name Dehalogenimonas lykanthroporepellens gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain of Dehalogenimonas lykanthroporepellens is BL-DC-9 T (=ATCC BAA-1523 T =JCM 15061 T ). The GenBank/EMBL/DDBJ accession numbers for the 16S rRNA gene sequences of strains BL-DC-9 T and BL-DC-8 are EU679419 and EU679418 , respectively. Scanning electron and transmission electron micrographs of cells of strains BL-DC-9 T and BL-DC-8 and phenotypic characteristics of type species of genera in the phylum Chloroflexi are available with the online version of this paper.