A novel strain isolated from methane seeps in the Kattegat belongs to the planctomycetal species Novipirellula methanifontis sp. nov.

Abstract

Abstract Here, we present the bacterial isolate SH528 T , a planctomycetal strain from the collection of Heinz Schlesner (Kiel University), a pioneer in the research on budding bacteria. Genomic and physiological features of the novel strain are characterized along with an analysis of its phylogenetic position within the phylum Planctomycetota . Strain SH528 T was isolated from the methane seeps of the Kattegat, a strait between Denmark and Sweden. It forms salmon-pigmented, ellipsoidal cells that divide asymmetrically by polar budding, the common cell division mode in the class Planctomycetia . Physiological analyses of the aerobic heterotroph revealed a mesophilic and neutrophilic lifestyle. Despite the isolation from a methane-rich environment, the strain is not a methanotroph. With a length of 10.5 Mb, the strain has a relatively large genome, even for members of the phylum Planctomycetota , and a DNA G + C content of 54.1%. Phylogenetic analyses using five established single gene- or genome-based markers place the strain in the family Pirellulaceae and support its delineation from the described species of the genus Novipirellula . We thus propose to assign the strain to a novel species for which we introduce the name Novipirellula methanifontis sp. nov. The novel taxon is represented by SH528 T (= DSM 116128 T  = KCTC 102012 T ) as the type strain.