Psychrotolerant and microaerophilic bacteria in boreal groundwater

✍ Scribed by M.K Männistö; J.A Puhakka

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2002
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 296 KB
• Volume: 41
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0168-6496
• DOI: 10.1016/s0168-6496(02)00262-3

✦ Synopsis

Growth temperature and microaerophily of 39 phylogenetically different isolates from boreal oxygen-deficient groundwater were studied. Based on growth temperatures, the isolates were mainly psychrotolerant bacteria as 35 grew at 2 ‡C and only three at 35 ‡C. Growth rates in the range of 4^35 ‡C fitted the Ratkowsky square root model well. Optimum temperatures of the groundwater isolates varied between 18 and 30 ‡C. In semisolid glucose and PYGV media, 59% and 28% of the isolates, respectively, preferred microaerophilic growth and 33% were catalase-negative. The microaerophilic isolates had the highest sensitivity to H 2 O 2 whereas sensitivity to the superoxide generator paraquat was similar among microaerophilic and aerobic isolates. The results show that the cold (6^8 ‡C) and oxygen-deficient groundwater harbors psychrotolerant and microaerophilic bacteria of different phylogenetic origins which are well adapted to their environment.