Koleobacter methoxysyntrophicus gen. nov., sp. nov., a novel anaerobic bacterium isolated from deep subsurface oil field and proposal of Koleobacteraceae fam. nov. and Koleobacterales ord. nov. within the class Clostridia of the phylum Firmicutes.

An anaerobic thermophilic, rod-shaped bacterium possessing a unique non-lipid sheathed-like structure enveloping a single-membraned cell, designated strain NRmbB1 was isolated from at the deep subsurface oil field located in Yamagata Prefecture, Japan. Growth occurred with 40-60°C (optimum, 55°C), 0-2% (2%), NaCl and pH 6.0-8.5 (8.0). Fermentative growth with various sugars was observed. Glucose-grown cells generated acetate, hydrogen, pyruvate and lactate as the main end products. Syntrophic growth occurred with glucose, pyruvate and 3,4,5-trimethoxybenzoate in the presence of an H-scavenging partner, and growth on 3,4,5-trimethoxybenzoate was only observed under syntrophic condition. The predominant cellular fatty acids were C iso-C, anteiso-C, and iso-C. Respiratory quinone was not detected. The genomic G+C content was 40.8mol%. Based on 16S rRNA gene phylogeny, strain NRmbB1 belongs to a distinct order-level clade in the class Clostridia of the phylum Firmicutes, sharing low similarity with other isolated organisms (i.e., 87.5% for top hit Moorella thermoacetica DSM 2955). In total, chemotaxonomic, phylogenetic and genomic characterization revealed that strain NRmbB1 (=KCTC 25035, =JCM 39120) represents a novel species of a new genus. In addition, we also propose the associated family and order as Koleobacteraceae fam. nov and Koleobacterales ord. nov., respectively.