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Physiologic Versatility and Growth Flexibility as the Main Characteristics of a Novel Thermoacidophilic Acidianus Strain Isolated from Copahue Geothermal Area in Argentina

  • Environmental Microbiology
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Abstract

A novel thermoacidophilic archaeal strain has been isolated from three geothermal acidic hot springs in Copahue, Argentina. One of the most striking characteristic of ALE1 isolate is its metabolic versatility. It grows on sulphur, tetrathionate, iron (II) and sucrose under aerobic conditions, but it can also develop under anaerobic conditions using iron (III) or sulphur as electron acceptors and sulphur or hydrogen as electron donors autotrophically. A temperature of 75 °C and a pH between 2.5 and 3.0 are strain ALE1 optimal growth conditions, but it is able to oxidise iron (II) even at pH 1.0. Cells are irregular cocci surrounded by a regularly arrayed glycoprotein layer (S-layer). Phylogenetic analysis shows that strain ALE1 belongs to the family Sulfolobaceae in the class Thermoprotei, within the phylum Crenarchaeota. Based on 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity on NCBI database, ALE1 does not have closely related relatives, neither in culture nor uncultured, which is more surprising. Its closest related species are strains of Acidianus hospitalis (91 % of sequence similarity), Acidianus infernus (90 %), Acidianus ambivalens (90 %) and Acidianus manzanensis (90 %). Its DNA base composition of 34.5 % mol C + G is higher than that reported for other Acidianus species. Considering physiological and phylogenetic characteristics of strain ALE1, we considered it to represent a novel species of the genus Acidianus (candidatus “Acidianus copahuensis”). The aim of this study is to physiologically characterise this novel archaea in order to understand its role in iron and sulphur geochemical cycles in the Copahue geothermal area and to evaluate its potential applications in bioleaching and biooxidation.

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Acknowledgments

The authors especially thank to Dr. Wolfgang Sand who kindly allowed the use of AFM to get the images shown in Fig. 1. MINCYT-BMBF funded a fellowship for M.A. Giaveno. This work was partially supported by grants ANPCyT (PICT 0749), CONICET (PIP 0368), Universidad Nacional del Comahue and Universidad Nacional de La Plata.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. IDEPA (CCT Comahue-CONICET–UNCo), Dpto. Química, Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad Nacional del Comahue, Buenos Aires, 1400, 8300, Neuquén, Argentina

    M. Alejandra Giaveno & J. Ricardo Ulloa

  2. CINDEFI (CCT La Plata-CONICET, UNLP), Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Calle 47 y 115, 1900, La Plata, Argentina

    M. Sofía Urbieta & Edgardo R. Donati

  3. Centro de Astrobiología, Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial, Carretera de Ajalvir Km. 4, 28850, Torrejón de Ardoz, Madrid, Spain

    Elena González Toril

  4. Calle 50, entre 115 y 116, N° 227, La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    M. Sofía Urbieta

Authors
  1. M. Alejandra Giaveno
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  2. M. Sofía Urbieta
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  3. J. Ricardo Ulloa
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  4. Elena González Toril
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  5. Edgardo R. Donati
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Correspondence to M. Sofía Urbieta.

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Giaveno, M.A., Urbieta, M.S., Ulloa, J.R. et al. Physiologic Versatility and Growth Flexibility as the Main Characteristics of a Novel Thermoacidophilic Acidianus Strain Isolated from Copahue Geothermal Area in Argentina. Microb Ecol 65, 336–346 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-012-0129-4

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