Shewanella gelidimarina sp. nov. and Shewanella frigidimarina sp. nov., novel Antarctic species with the ability to produce eicosapentaenoic acid (20:5 omega 3) and grow anaerobically by dissimilatory Fe(III) reduction.

A polyphasic taxonomic study was performed to characterize dissimilatory iron-reducing strains mostly isolated from Antarctic sea ice. The strains were isolated from samples of congelated (land-fast) sea ice, grease ice, and ice algal biomass collected from the coastal areas of the Vestfold Hills in eastern Antarctica (68 degrees S 78 degrees E). The strains were facultatively anaerobic, motile, and rod shaped, were capable of anaerobic growth either by fermentation of carbohydrates or by anaerobic respiration, and utilized a variety of electron acceptors, including nitrate, ferric compounds, and trimethylamine N-oxide. A phylogenetic analysis performed with 16S rRNA sequences showed that the isolates formed two groups representing novel lineages in the genus Shewanella. The first novel group included seawater-requiring, psychrophilic, chitinolytic strains which had DNA G + C contents of 48 mol%. The members of the second strain group were psychrotrophic and did not require seawater but could tolerate up to 9% NaCl. The strains of this group were also unable to degrade polysaccharides but could utilize a number of monosaccharides and disaccharides and had G + C contents of 40 to 43 mol%. The whole-cell-derived fatty acid profiles of the sea ice isolates were found to be similar to the profiles obtained for other Shewanella species. The omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) (20:5 omega 3) was detected in all of the sea ice isolates at levels ranging from 2 to 16% of the total fatty acids. EPA was also found at high levels in Shewanella hanedai (19 to 22%) and Shewanella benthica (16 to 18%) but was absent in Shewanella alga and Shewanella putrefaciens. On the basis of polyphasic taxonomic data, the Antarctic iron-reducing strains are placed in two new species, Shewanella frigidimarina sp. nov. (type strain, ACAM 591) and Shewanella gelidimarina sp. nov. (type strain, ACAM 456).