Anaerobic utilization of phosphite and hypophosphite by Bacillus sp.

A Bacillus sp. capable of utilizing phosphite and hypophosphite under anaerobic conditions was isolated from Cape Canerval soil samples. The organism was isolated on a glucose-mineral salts medium with phosphate deleted. Anaerobic cultivation of this isolate resulted in decreases in the hypophosphite or phosphite concentration, increases in turbidity, cell count, and dry-cell weight, and decreases in pH and glucose concentration. The optimum hypophosphite concentration for this isolate was 60 microgram/ml, whereas the optimum phosphate concentration was greater than 1,000 microgram/ml, suggesting that higher concentrations of hypophosphite may be toxic to this isolate. Hypophosphite or phosphite utilization was accompanied by little or no detectable accumulation of phosphate in the medium, and 32P-labeled hypophosphite was incorporated into the cell as organic phosphate. When phosphate was present in the medium, the isolate failed to metabolize phosphite. In the presence of phosphite and hypophosphite, the isolate first utilized phosphite and then hypophosphite.