Citromicrobium bathyomarinum, a novel aerobic bacterium isolated from deep-sea hydrothermal vent plume waters that contains photosynthetic pigment-protein complexes

We have taxonomically and phylogenetically characterized a new aerobic bact erial strain (JF-1) that contains photosynthetic pigment-protein complexes and which was recently isolated from black smoker plume waters of the Juan de Fuca Ridge. Strain JF-1 is a gram-negative, yellow-pigmented, motile bac terium that is salt-, pH-, and thermotolerant. These properties are consist ent with an oligotrophic adaptation to varied environmental conditions thou ght to exist around deep-sea hydrothermal vents. The analysis of 16S rDNA s equences revealed that strain JF-1 forms a separate phylogenetic branch bet ween the genus Erythromonas and the Erythromicrobium-Porphyrobacter-Erythro bacter cluster within the alpha subclass of the Proteobacteria. The taxonom ic name Citromicrobium bathyomarinum (gen. nov., sp. nov.) is proposed for strain JF-1.