Desulfovibrio legallis sp. nov.: a moderately halophilic, sulfate-reducing bacterium isolated from a wastewater digestor in Tunisia.

A new moderately halophilic sulfate-reducing bacterium (strain H1(T) ) was enriched and isolated from a wastewater digestor in Tunisia. Cells were curved, motile rods (2-3 x 0.5 µm). Strain H1(T) grew at temperatures between 22 and 43°C (optimum 35°C), and at pH between 5.0 and 9.2 (optimum 7.3-7.5). Strain H1(T) required salt for growth (1-45 g of NaCl/l), with an optimum at 20-30 g/l. Sulfate, sulfite, thiosulfate, and elemental sulfur were used as terminal electron acceptors but not nitrate and nitrite. Strain H1(T) utilized lactate, pyruvate, succinate, fumarate, ethanol, and hydrogen (in the presence of acetate and CO2) as electron donors in the presence of sulfate as electron acceptor. The main end-products from lactate oxidation were acetate with H2 and CO2. The G + C content of the genomic DNA was 55%. The predominant fatty acids of strain H1(T) were C(15:0) iso (38.8%), C(16:0) (19%), and C(14:0) iso 3OH (12.2%), and menaquinone MK-6 was the major respiratory quinone. Phylogenetic analysis of the small-subunit (SSU) ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene sequence indicated that strain H1(T) was affiliated to the genus Desulfovibrio. On the basis of SSU rRNA gene sequence comparisons and physiological characteristics, strain H1(T) is proposed to be assigned to a novel species of sulfate reducers of the genus Desulfovibrio, Desulfovibrio legallis sp. nov. (= DSM 19129(T) = CCUG 54389(T)).