P. Durand et al., NUMERICAL TAXONOMY OF HETEROTROPHIC SULFUR-OXIDIZING BACTERIA ISOLATED FROM SOUTHWESTERN PACIFIC HYDROTHERMAL VENTS, Canadian journal of microbiology, 40(8), 1994, pp. 690-697
Sulfur-oxidizing bacteria (n = 161) were enriched and isolated from sa
mples of vent water, invertebrates, and chimney rocks collected at two
deep-sea hydrothermal vents (2000 m) in back-are basins from the sout
hwestern Pacific: the North Fiji Basin and the Lau Basin, Several type
s of heterotrophic sulfur-oxidizing bacteria were repeatedly isolated.
They oxidized thiosulfate either to sulfate (acid producing) or to po
lythionate (base producing). In most of the acid-producing cultures, t
hiosulfate was transitorily oxidized to polythionate. All of the bacte
ria were Gram negative, 37% were fermentative, and 88% were denitrifie
rs or nitrate reducers. Numerical taxonomy and analysis of the G+C con
tent showed that they belong to several genera including Pseudomonas,
Acinetobacter, and Vibrio.