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Isolation and characterization of a Geobacillus thermoleovorans strain from an ultra-deep South African gold mine

  • M. F. DeFlaun
  • , J. K. Fredrickson
  • , H. Dong
  • , S. M. Pfiffner
  • , Tullis C. Onstott
  • , D. L. Balkwill
  • , S. H. Streger
  • , E. Stackebrandt
  • , S. Knoessen
  • , E. van Heerden

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

A thermophilic facultative bacterial isolate was recovered from 3.2 km depth in a gold mine in South Africa. This isolate, designated GE-7, was cultivated from pH 8.0, 50 °C water from a dripping fracture near the top of an exploration tunnel. GE-7 grows optimally at 65 °C and pH 6.5 on a wide range of carbon substrates including cellobiose, hydrocarbons and lactate. In addition to O2, GE-7 also utilizes nitrate as an electron acceptor. GE-7 is a long rod-shaped bacterium (4-6 μm long×0.5 μm wide) with terminal endospores and flagella. Phylogenetic analysis of GE-7 16S rDNA sequence revealed high sequence similarity with G. thermoleovorans DSM 5366T (99.6%), however, certain phenotypic characteristics of GE-7 were distinct from this and other previously described strains of G. thermoleovorans.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)152-164
Number of pages13
JournalSystematic and Applied Microbiology
Volume30
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 8 2007

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology
  • Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
  • Microbiology

Keywords

  • Deep subsurface bacteria
  • Extremophiles
  • Geobacillus thermoleovorans
  • Lipase
  • Thermophilic bacilli

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