First evidence of aerobic biodegradation of BTEX compounds by pure cultures of Marinobacter.

Marinobacter vinifirmus was shown to degrade toluene as sole carbon and energy source under aerobiosis and at NaCl concentrations in the range 30-150 g/L. Maximum toluene consumption rate, total CO2, and biomass productions were measured in the presence of 60 g/L of NaCl. Under these conditions, 90% of the carbon from toluene was recovered as CO2 and biomass. Maximum specific toluene consumption rate was about 0.12 mgC toluene mgC biomass(-1) h(-1) at NaCl concentrations between 30 and 60 g/L. It decreased to 0.03 mgC toluene mgC biomass(-1) h(-1) at 150 g/L. Besides toluene, M. vinifirmus degraded benzene, ethylbenzene, and p-xylene. Benzene and toluene were utilized to a lesser extent by another Marinobacter sp., Marinobacter hydrocarbonoclasticus.

Characterization of filamentous fungi isolated from Moroccan olive and olive cake: toxinogenic potential of Aspergillus strains.

During the 2003 and 2004 olive oil production campaigns in Morocco, 136 samples from spoiled olive and olive cake were analyzed and 285 strains were isolated in pure culture. Strains included 167 mesophilic strains belonging to ten genera: Penicillium, Aspergillus, Geotrichum, Mucor, Rhizopus, Trichoderma, Alternaria, Acremonium, Humicola, Ulocladium as well as 118 thermophilic strains isolated in 2003 and 2004, mainly belonging to six species: Aspergillus fumigatus, Paecilomyces variotii, Mucor pusillus, Thermomyces lanuginosus, Humicola grisea, and Thermoascus aurantiacus. Penicillium and Aspergillus, respectively, 32.3 and 26.9% of total isolates represented the majority of mesophilic fungi isolated. When considering total strains (including thermotolerant strains) Aspergillus were the predominant strains isolated; follow-up studies on mycotoxins therefore focused primarily on aflatoxins (AFs) and ochratoxin A (OTA) from the latter strains. All isolated Aspergillus flavus strains (9) and Aspergillus niger strains (36) were studied in order to evaluate their capacity to produce AFs and OTA, respectively, when grown on starch-based culture media. Seven of the nine tested A. flavus strains isolated from olive and olive cake produced AF B1 at concentrations between 48 and 95 microg/kg of dry rice weight. As for the A. niger strains, 27 of the 36 strains produced OTA.

Study of a hexane-degrading consortium in a biofilter and in liquid culture: biodiversity, kinetics and characterization of degrading strains.

A gasoline-degrading consortium, originating from a Mexican soil, was used to study its hexane-degradation kinetics in liquid culture and in a biofilter with mineral support. The biodiversity of the consortium depending on the culture conditions and electron and energy source (gasoline, hexane in liquid or hexane in the biofilter) was analyzed using a 16S rRNA-based approach. Significant differences between the populations were observed, indicating a probable adaptation to the substrate. Two strains, named SP2B and SP72-3, isolated from the consortium, belonged to Actinomycetes and demonstrated a high metabolic potential in hexane degradation. Even though the SP2B strain was related to Rhodococcus ruber DSM 43338(T) by phylogenetic studies, it displayed enlarged metabolic properties in hexane and other short-alkane degradation compared with the collection strain.

Pseudoxanthomonas mexicana sp. nov. and Pseudoxanthomonas japonensis sp. nov., isolated from diverse environments, and emended descriptions of the genus Pseudoxanthomonas Finkmann et al. 2000 and of its type species.

Three mesophilic bacteria (strains AMX 26B(T), UR374_02 and 12-3(T)) isolated respectively from an anaerobic digester, human urine and urban riverside soil were characterized. Cells were Gram-negative, motile, non-sporulating, straight to curved rods with one polar flagellum and had a strictly respiratory metabolism with O(2) as the preferential terminal electron acceptor. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that all strains clustered within the Xanthomonadaceae branch of the Proteobacteria. Isolates AMX 26B(T) and UR374_02 exhibited 100 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity and both were related to strain 12-3(T) (99.6 % similarity). The closest relative of all the isolates was Pseudoxanthomonas broegbernensis DSM 12573(T) (similarity 97.1-97.5 %), and they were equidistantly related to Xanthomonas species (95.4-96.6 %), Stenotrophomonas species (95.3-96.1 %) and Pseudoxanthomonas taiwanensis ATCC BAA-4040(T) (95.3-95.4 %). Chemotaxonomic and biochemical data (branched-chain cellular fatty acid pattern without C(13 : 0) iso 3-OH, ubiquinone with eight isoprenoid units, limited range of substrates used, ability to reduce nitrite but not nitrate with the production of N(2)O) supported their affiliation to the genus Pseudoxanthomonas. The results of DNA-DNA hybridization and/or phenotypic analysis allowed them to be differentiated from the two Pseudoxanthomonas species with validly published names and showed that strain 12-3(T) was genomically and phenotypically distinct from the other two isolates. On the basis of these results, two novel species of the genus Pseudoxanthomonas are proposed: Pseudoxanthomonas mexicana sp. nov., consisting of strains AMX 26B(T) (=ATCC 700993(T)=CIP 106674(T)=JCM 11524(T)) (type strain) and UR374_02 (=DSM 15133), and Pseudoxanthomonas japonensis sp. nov., consisting of strain 12-3(T) (=CCUG 48231(T)=CIP 107388(T)=JCM 11525(T)). The report of these two novel species leads to the emendation of the description of the genus Pseudoxanthomonas and the re-evaluation of the phenotype of P. broegbernensis DSM 12573(T) necessitates the emendation of its description.

Isolation from oil reservoirs of novel thermophilic anaerobes phylogenetically related to Thermoanaerobacter subterraneus: reassignment of T. subterraneus, Thermoanaerobacter yonseiensis, Thermoanaerobacter tengcongensis and Carboxydibrachium pacificum to Caldanaerobacter subterraneus gen. nov., sp. nov., comb. nov. as four novel subspecies.

Novel thermophilic, anaerobic, Gram-positive, rod-shaped bacteria, strains SL9 and OCA1, were isolated from oilfields in France and Australia, respectively. Both strains, together with Thermoanaerobacter yonseiensis KB-1(T) (=DSM 13777(T)), Thermoanaerobacter tengcongensis MB4(T) (=DSM 15242(T)) and Carboxydibrachium pacificum JM(T) (=DSM 12653(T)), possessed genomic (DNA-DNA hybridization studies) and phylogenetic similarities with Thermoanaerobacter subterraneus SEBR 7858(T) (=DSM 13054(T)), which was isolated recently from an oilfield reservoir in south-west France. Marked phenotypic differences exist between the three oilfield isolates (T. subterraneus, strain OCA1 and strain SL9): they include temperature range for growth and substrates used. Differences were also observed in the DNA G+C contents of all organisms. Similarly to T. subterraneus, strains SL9 and OCA1, and also T. yonseiensis, T. tengcongensis and Carboxydibrachium pacificum, produced acetate and L-alanine as major end products of glucose metabolism [0.8-1.0 mol L-alanine produced (mol glucose consumed)(-1)] and reduced thiosulfate, but not sulfate, to sulfide. Because of these significant metabolic and phylogenetic differences between the oilfield isolates (T. subterraneus, strain OCA1 and strain SL9), T. yonseiensis, T. tengcongensis and Carboxydibrachium pacificum and other Thermoanaerobacter species, it is proposed to reassign them as a novel genus and species, Caldanaerobacter subterraneus gen. nov., sp. nov., comb. nov., with the creation of four novel subspecies, Caldanaerobacter subterraneus subsp. subterraneus subsp. nov., comb. nov., Caldanaerobacter subterraneus subsp. yonseiensis subsp. nov., comb. nov., Caldanaerobacter subterraneus subsp. tengcongensis subsp. nov., comb. nov. and Caldanaerobacter subterraneus subsp. pacificus subsp. nov., comb. nov.