sp. nov. and sp. nov., Two Acidophilic Bacteria Isolated from Decaying Wood, Hydrolyzing Cellulose and Producing Poly-3-hydroxybutyrate.

Two novel strains, HW T2.11 and HW T5.17, were isolated from decaying wood (forest of Champenoux, France). Study of the 16S rRNA sequence similarity indicated that the novel strains belong to the genus . The sequence similarity of the 16S rRNA gene of HW T2.11 with the corresponding sequences of and was 97.30% and 97.25%, while for HW T5.17 it was 96.85% and 97.14%, respectively. The DNA G+C contents of the strains were 62.32-62.50%. Cells were Gram-negative coccobacilli that had intracellular storage granules (poly-3-hydroxybutyrate (P3HB)) that confer resistance to environmental stress conditions. They were mesophilic and acidophilic organisms growing at 8-25 °C, at a pH of 2.0-6.5, and were capable of using a wide range of organic compounds and complex biopolymers such as starch, fucoidan, laminarin, pectin and cellulose, the latter two being involved in wood composition. The major cellular fatty acid was cyclo C and the major quinone was Q-10. Overall, genome relatedness indices between genomes of strains HW T2.11 and HW T5.17 (Orthologous Average Nucleotide Identity (OrthoANI) value = 83.73% and digital DNA-DNA hybridization score = 27.5%) confirmed that they belonged to two different species. Genetic predictions indicate that the cyclopropane fatty acid (CFA) pathway is present, conferring acid-resistance properties to the cells. The two novel strains might possess a class IV polyhydroxyalcanoate (PHA) synthase operon involved in the P3HB production pathway. Overall, the polyphasic taxonomic analysis shows that these two novel strains are adapted to harsh environments such as decaying wood where the organic matter is difficult to access, and can contribute to the degradation of dead wood. These strains represent novel species of the genus , for which the names sp. nov. and sp. nov. are proposed. The type strains of and are, respectively, HW T2.11 (DSM 111006; UBOCC-M-3364) and HW T5.17 (DSM 111007; UBOCC-M-3365).