title: Utilization of aliphatic nitriles under haloalkaline conditions by Bacillus alkalinitrilicus sp. nov. isolated from soda solonchak soil.
abstract: Enrichment with isobutyronitrile as the sole carbon, energy and nitrogen source at pH 10, using soda solonchak soils as an inoculum, resulted in the selection of a binary culture consisting of two different spore-forming phenotypes. One of them, strain ANL-iso4, was capable of growth with isobutyronitrile as a single substrate, while the other phenotype only utilized products of isobutyronitrile hydrolysis, such as isobutyroamide and isobutyrate. Strain ANL-iso4 is an obligate alkaliphile and a moderately salt-tolerant bacterium. Apart from isobutyronitrile, it grew on other (C3-C6) aliphatic nitriles at pH 10. Resting cells of ANL-iso4 actively hydrolyzed a number of aliphatic and arylaliphatic nitriles and their corresponding amides. The latter, together with the intermediate formation of amides during nitrile hydrolysis, indicated the presence of a nitrile hydratase/amidase system in the novel bacterium. Although present in an alkaliphilic bacterium, both nitrile- and amide-hydrolyzing activities had a pH optimum within the neutral range, probably due to their intracellular localization. On the basis of phenotypic and phylogenetic analyses, strain ANL-iso4 is proposed as a new species Bacillus alkalinitrilicus sp. nov.
authors.affiliation: Winogradsky Institute of Microbiology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia. soroc@inmi.host.ru
authors.forename: Dimitry Y
authors.initials: DY
authors.lastname: Sorokin
authors.forename: Sander
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: van Pelt
authors.forename: Tatjana P
authors.initials: TP
authors.lastname: Tourova
mesh_terms: D001407:Bacillus / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000502:physiology; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D009570:Nitriles / Q000378:metabolism*; D010641:Phenotype; D010802:Phylogeny; D012426:Russia; D017693:Sodium Bicarbonate; D012965:Sodium Chloride / Q000494:pharmacology*; D012988:Soil Microbiology; D013045:Species Specificity; D013171:Spores, Bacterial / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D009570:Nitriles; D012965:Sodium Chloride; C022246:isobutyronitrile; D017693:Sodium Bicarbonate