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Pyrococcus abyssi sp. nov., a new hyperthermophilic archaeon isolated from a deep-sea hydrothermal vent

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Abstract

A novel, hyperthermophilic, anaerobic, sulfurmetabolizing archaeon was isolated from a fluid sample from recently discovered hydrothermal vents in the North Fiji basin (SW Pacific), at 2000 m depth. The new organism, strain GE5, is a gram-negative, highly motile coccus. It grows between 67° and 102°C under atmospheric pressure, with an optimum at 96°C (doubling time 33 min). The upper growth temperature is extended by at least 3°C when cells are cultivated under in situ hydrostatic pressures (20 MPa). Strain GE5 is an obligate heterotroph, fermenting peptides, or mixtures of amino acids to acetate, isovalerate, isobutyrate, propionate, H2 and CO2. Hydrogen inhibits growth unless sulfur is present. In the presence of sulfur, H2S is then produced. Phylogenetic analyses of the 16 S rRNA sequence of strain GE5 places the new isolate within the Thermococcales. By its high growth temperature and physiological features the new isolate ressembles Pyrococcus sp. However it deffers by a 7% mol upper G+C-content and shows low level of DNA similarity with the two previously described species. Based on these differences the description of strain GE5 as a new species Pyrococcus abyssi (CNCM I-1302) is proposed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Station Biologique, CNRS UPR 4601, F-29680, Roscoff, France

    Gaël Erauso, Frédéric Partensky & Viggo Marteinsson

  2. Department of Biology, Indiana University, 47405, Bloomington, IN, USA

    Anna-Louise Reysenbach & Norman R. Pace

  3. IFREMER Centre de Brest: Environment Profond, F-29280, Plouzané, France

    Anne Godfroy & Georges Barbier

  4. Unité des entérobactéries, Institut Pasteur, 28 rue du docteur Roux, F-75724, Paris Cédex, France

    Jean-Roch Meunier

  5. School of Oceanography, University of Washington, 98195, Seattle, WA, USA

    Byron Crump & John A. Baross

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  1. Gaël Erauso
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  2. Anna-Louise Reysenbach
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  3. Anne Godfroy
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Erauso, G., Reysenbach, AL., Godfroy, A. et al. Pyrococcus abyssi sp. nov., a new hyperthermophilic archaeon isolated from a deep-sea hydrothermal vent. Arch. Microbiol. 160, 338–349 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00252219

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00252219

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