Anaerotalea alkaliphila gen. nov., sp. nov., an alkaliphilic, anaerobic, fermentative bacterium isolated from a...

Diversity of extremophilic microorganisms in mud volcanoes is largely unexplored. Here, we report the isolation of a novel alkaliphilic, mesophilic, fermentative bacterium (strain F-3ap^T) from a terrestrial mud volcano located at the Taman peninsula, Russia. Cells of strain F-3ap^T are Gram-stain-positive non-motile rods. The formation of endospores is not observed. The temperature range for growth is 14-42 °C, with an optimum at 37 °C. The pH range for growth is 7.5-11.0, with an optimum at pH 9.0. The isolate utilizes various organic polymeric substances, organic acids, carbohydrates, and proteinaceous compounds. The end products of glucose fermentation are ethanol, CO₂, and H₂. The major cellular fatty acids of strain F-3ap^T are C_16:0, C_16:1, and C_14:0. Phylogenetic analysis reveals that strain F-3ap^T belongs to the order Clostridiales, with less than 91% of 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity to any species with a validly published name. The total size of the genome of strain F-3ap^T is 2.98 Mb, and a genomic DNA G + C content is 56.78 mol%. The whole-genome phylogenetic analysis confirms that strain F-3ap^T forms a distinct lineage within Clostridia. We propose to assign strain F-3ap^T to a new species of a novel genus Anaerotalea alkaliphila gen. nov., sp. nov. The type strain is F-3ap^T (= KCTC 15917 ^T = VKM B-3406 ^T).