New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research abstracts

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Isolation of anaerobic, extremely thermophilic, sulphur metabolising archaebacteria from New Zealand hot springs

B. K. C. PATEL1
P. M. JASPERSE-HERST
H. W. MORGAN
R. M. DANIEL

Department of Biological Sciences University of Waikato Private Bag, Hamilton New Zealand

Abstract Enrichments of New Zealand geo-thermal samples, initiated in anaerobic sulphur-containing media and incubated at temperatures above 85°C, yielded rod and coccal shaped organisms which possessed archaebacterial characteristics. Pure cultures were isolated and characterised. Five of the seven isolates, which were rod-shaped organisms and did not have an obligate requirement for sulphur respiration, were similar to Ther-moproteus sp. but had more neutral pH optima for growth. Three of these five Thermoproteus sp. were obligate heterotrophs, which has not previously been reported. The two coccal isolates had an obligate requirement for sulphur as an electron acceptor and were similar to* Desulfurococcus sp. but again with more neutral pH optima for growth.

Keywords hot springs; archaebacteria; Thermoproteus; Desulfurococcus; sulphur respiration; geothermal; growth; optima Received 28 November 1985; accepted 3 February 1986 ■Present address: Ruakura Animal Research Station, Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Private Bag, Hamilton, New Zealand.

New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research, 1986, Vol. 20 : 439-445 Received 28 November 1985; accepted 3 February 1986

PDF file of entire paper: medium quality (1934K); (scanned from paper original: notes about this process)

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