Description: A new member of the Flavobacteriales was isolated from the surface of a stone collected on the German North Sea shore. The bacterium, strain ANORD5T, is a mesophilic, chemoheterotrophic aerobic, typical marine bacterium. Optimal growth was observed at 20–30 °C, pH 7.0–8.5 and 1–2 % sea salt. The 16S rRNA gene sequence revealed a distant relationship with the representatives of the Cryomorphaceae , with less than 90 % sequence similarity. Strain ANORD5T forms a cluster together with Owenweeksia hongkongensis UST20020801T (89.9 %), Cryomorpha ignava 1-22T (87.9 %), Luteibaculum oceani CC-AMWY-103BT (88.1 %) and Phaeocystidibacter luteus PG2S01T (87.3 %). Strain ANORD5T has a low DNA G+C content (31 mol%). Based on morphological, physiological and phylogenetic data, strain ANORD5T is considered a type strain of a new species and a new genus of the family Cryomorphaceae for which the name Vicingus serpentipes is proposed. The type strain is ANORD5T (=NCIMB 15042T=DSM 103558T=MTCC 12686T).

Description: The distribution of methane and hydrogen sulfide concentrations in sediments of various basins of the Baltic Sea was investigated during 4 cruises in 1995 and 1996. Significant differences in the concentrations of both compounds were recorded between the basins and also between different areas within the Gotland Deep. High-methane sediments with distinctly increasing concentrations from the surface to deeper layers were distinguished from low-methane sediments without a clear gradient. Methane concentrations exhibited a fair correlation with the sediment accumulation rate, determined by measuring the total thickness of the post-Ancylus Holocene sequence on echosounding profiles in the Gotland Deep. Only weak correlations were observed with the content of organic matter in the surface layers of the sediments. Hydrogen sulfide concentrations in the sediments showed a positive correlation with methane concentrations, but, in contrast to methane concentrations, were strongly influenced by the transition from oxic to anoxic conditions in the water column between 1995 and 1996. Sediments in the deepest part of the Gotland Basin (〉 237 m water depth), covering an area of approximately 35 km2, were characterized by especially high accumulation rates (〉 70 cm/ka) and high methane and hydrogen sulfide contents. Concentrations of these compounds decreased rapidly towards the slope of the basin.

Description: A novel actinomycete, designated strain YIM 46034(T), was isolated from an evergreen broadleaved forest at Menghai, in southern Yunnan Province, China. Phenotypic characterization and 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis indicated that the strain belonged to the family Micromanosporaceae. Strain YIM 46034(T) showed more than 3% 16S rRNA gene sequence divergence from recognized species of genera in the family Micromonosporaceae. Characteristic features of strain YIM 46034(T) were the production of two types of spores, namely motile spores, which were formed in sporangia produced on substrate mycelia, and single globose spores, which were observed on short sporophores of the substrate mycelia. The cell wall contained meso-diaminopimelic acid, glycine, arabinose and xylose, which are characteristic components of cell-wall chemotype 11 of actinomycetes. Phosphatidylethanolamine was the major phospholipid (phospholipid type 11). Based on morphological, chemotaxonomic, phenotypic and genetic characteristics, strain YIM 46034(T) is considered to represent a novel species of a new genus in the family Micromonosporaceae, for which the name Planosporangium flavigriseum gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain of Planosporangium flavigriseum is YIM 46034(T) (=CCTCC AA 205013(T) =DSM 44991(T)).

Description: A novel alphaproteobacterium, strain LD81(T), was isolated from the marine macroalga. Laminaria saccharina. The bacterium is mesophilic and shows a typical marine growth response. It is a chemoheterotrophic aerobe with the potential for denitrification. Growth optima are 25 degrees C, pH 5.5 and 3% NaCl. Strain LD81(T) has a unique phylogenetic position, not fitting any of the known families of the Alphaproteobacteria. The 16S rRNA gene sequence revealed a distant relationship to species of several orders of the Alphaproteobacteria, with less than 90% sequence similarity. Phylogenetically, strain LD81(T) is related to the type strains of Terasakiella pusilla (88.4% 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity) and the three Thalassospira species (88.9-89.2%. It forms a cluster with these bacteria and a novel as-yet undescribed isolate (KOPRI 13522; 96.6% sequence similarity). Strain LD81(T) has a relatively low DNA G + C content (51.1 mol%) and, due to its distant phylogenetic position from all other alphaprotecibacteria, strain LD81(T) (=NCIMB 14374(T) =JCM 14845(T)) is considered as the type strain of a novel species within a new genus, for which the name Kiloniella laminariae gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. The genus Kiloniella represents the type of the new family Kiloniellaceae fam. nov. and order Kiloniellales ord. nov.

Description: Vestimentiferan tubeworms (siboglinid polychaetes) of the genus Lamellibrachia are common members of cold-seep faunal communities and have also been found at sedimented hydrothermal vent sites in the Pacific. As they lack a digestive system, they are nourished by chemoautotrophic bacterial endosymbionts growing in a specialized tissue called the trophosome. Here we present the results of investigations of tubeworms and endosymbionts from a shallow hydrothermal vent field in the Western Mediterranean Sea. The tubeworms, which are the first reported vent-associated tubeworms outside the Pacific, are identified as Lamellibrachia anaximandri using mitochondrial ribosomal and cytochrome oxidase I gene sequences. They harbor a single gammaproteobacterial endosymbiont. Carbon isotopic data, as well as the analysis of genes involved in carbon and sulfur metabolism indicate a sulfide-oxidizing chemoautotrophic endosymbiont. The detection of a hydrogenase gene fragment suggests the potential for hydrogen oxidation as alternative energy source. Surprisingly, the endosymbiont harbors genes for two different carbon fixation pathways, the Calvin-Benson-Bassham (CBB) cycle as well as the reductive tricarboxylic acid (rTCA) cycle, as has been reported for the endosymbiont of the giant vent tubeworm Riftia pachyptila. In addition to RubisCO genes we detected ATP citrate lyase (ACL, the key enzyme of the rTCA cycle) type II gene sequences using newly designed primer sets. Comparative investigations with additional tubeworm species (Lamellibrachia luymesi, Lamellibrachia sp. 1, Lamellibrachia sp. 2, Escarpia laminata, Seepiophila jonesi) from multiple cold seep sites in the Gulf of Mexico revealed the presence of acl genes in these species as well. Thus, our study suggests that the presence of two different carbon fixation pathways, the CBB cycle and the rTCA cycle, is not restricted to the Riftia endosymbiont, but rather might be common in vestimentiferan tubeworm endosymbionts.