Thermogymnomonas acidicola gen. nov., sp nov., a novel thermoacidophilic, cell wall-less archaeon in the order Thermoplasmatales, isolated from a solfataric soil in Hakone, Japan

A novel thermoacidophilic, cell wall-less archaeon, strain IC-189(T), was isolated from a solfataric field in Ohwaku-dani, Hakone, Japan. The cells were irregular cocci, sometimes lobed, club-shaped or catenated, and were highly variable in size, ranging from 0.8 to 8.0 mu m in diameter. The strain grew at temperatures in the range 38-68 degrees C (optimally at 60 degrees C) and at pH 1.8-4.0 (optimally at around pH 3.0). Strain IC_189(T) was obligately aerobic and heterotrophic, requiring yeast extract for growth. Yeast extract, glucose and mannose served as carbon and energy sources. The polar lipids consisted mainly of cyclic or acyclic glycerol-bisdiphytanyl-glycerol tetraethers, and the predominant quinone was a menaquinone with seven isoprenoid units (MK-7). The G +C content of total DNA was 56.1 mol%. 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis revealed that strain IC-189(T) was a member of the order Thermoplasmatales, but diverged from the hitherto known species of the genera Thermoplasma, Picrophilus and Ferroplasma (86.2-91.0% sequence similarity). These phenotypic and phylogenetic properties clearly support a separate taxonomic status for this strain. Therefore, strain IC-189(T) represents a novel genus (order Thermoplasmatales) and species, for which the name Thermogymnomonas acidicola gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed, with type strain IC-189(T) (=JCM 13583(T) =DSM 18835(T)).