The first true obligately syntrophic propionate-oxidizing bacterium, Pelotomaculum schinkii sp. nov., co-cultured with Methanospirillum hungatei, and emended description of the genus Pelotomaculum

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Abstract
A Gram-positive, spore-forming, syntrophic propionate-oxidizing bacterium,Pelotomaculum schinkiisp. nov. strain HHT, was isolated as a co-culture withMethanospirillum hungateiJF-1Tfrom anaerobic, freeze-dried granular sludge obtained from an upflow anaerobic sludge bed reactor treating sugar beet wastewater. The bacterium converted propionate to acetate in co-culture withMethanospirillum hungateiJF-1TorMethanobacterium formicicumMFNT, but not in co-culture withMethanobrevibacter arboriphilusAZ. The organism could not be cultured axenically with any of the substrates tested and therefore can be considered as a (the first) true anaerobic syntrophic bacterium. The bacterium contained two distinct 16S rRNA gene sequences, with 96·8 % sequence similarity, which were both expressed during syntrophic growth on propionate as revealed by fluorescentin situhybridization. The most closely related organisms areCryptanaerobacter phenolicusLR7.2T, a bacterium that transforms phenol into benzoate, andPelotomaculum thermopropionicumSIT, a thermophilic, syntrophic propionate-oxidizing bacterium. Other related species belong to the Gram-positive, sulfate-reducing genusDesulfotomaculum. The type strain ofPelotomaculum schinkiiis strain HHT(=ATCC BAA-615T=DSM 15200T).

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