Ardenticatena maritima gen. nov., sp. nov., a ferric iron- and nitrate-reducing bacterium of the phylum ‘ Chloroflexi ’ isolated from an iron-rich coastal hydrothermal field, and description of Ardenticatenia classis nov.

A novel thermophilic, chemoheterotrophic, Gram-negative-staining, multicellular filamentous bacterium, designated strain 110S(T), was isolated from an iron-rich coastal hydrothermal field in Japan. The isolate is facultatively aerobic and chemoheterotrophic. Phylogenetic analysis using 16S rRNA gene sequences nested strain 110S(T) in a novel class-level clone cluster of the phylum 'Chloroflexi'. The isolate grows by dissimilatory iron- and nitrate-reduction under anaerobic conditions, which is the first report of these abilities in the phylum 'Chloroflexi'. The organism is capable of growth with oxygen, ferric iron and nitrate as a possible electron acceptor, has a wide range of growth temperatures, and tolerates higher NaCl concentrations for growth compared to the other isolates in the phylum. Using phenotypic and phylogenetic data, strain 110S(T) (= JCM 17282(T) = NBRC 107679(T) = DSM 23922(T) = KCTC 23289(T) = ATCC BAA-2145(T)) is proposed as the type strain of a novel species in a new genus, Ardenticatena maritima gen. nov., sp. nov. In addition, as strain 110S(T) apparently constitutes a new class of the phylum 'Chloroflexi' with other related uncultivated clone sequences, we propose Ardenticatenia classis nov. and the subordinate taxa Ardenticatenales ord. nov. and Ardenticatenaceae fam. nov.