Meiothermus granaticius sp. nov., a new slightly thermophilic red-pigmented species from the Azores.

Two red-pigmented isolates, with optimum growth temperatures between 45 and 50 degrees C, were recovered from a hot spring in the Furnas, Area da Fonte 1825 on the Island of São Miguel in the Azores. Phylogenetic analysis of the 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that these organisms represented a new species of the genus Meiothermus. These new isolates could be distinguished from other strains of the species of the genus Meiothermus primarily by the fatty acid composition and polar lipid pattern, since they did not possess 2-OH fatty acids or glycolipid variant GL-1a. Moreover, the two new isolates had the lowest growth temperature range of any of the known species of the genus Meiothermus. On the basis of the results presented here we propose the name Meiothermus granaticius for the new species represented by strains AF-68(T) (=DSM 23260(T)=LMG 25524(T)) and AF-49 (=DSM 23259=LMG 25525).