title: Methanosarcina subterranea sp. nov., a methanogenic archaeon isolated from a deep subsurface diatomaceous shale formation.
abstract: A methanogenic archaeon, strain HC-2(T), was isolated from a deep diatomaceous shale formation. The strain grew on methanol, monomethylamine, dimethylamine, trimethylamine and dimethylsulphide, but not on acetate, H2/CO2, formate, 2-propanol, 2-butanol or cyclopentanol. Cells were Gram-stain-negative, non-motile, and coccus-like, 0.9-1.4 µm in diameter, and occurred singly, in pairs, or as aggregates. The strain grew at 10-40 °C (optimum 35 °C), pH 5.9-7.4 (optimum pH 6.6-6.8) and in 0-0.6 M NaCl (optimum 0.1-0.2 M). The genomic DNA G+C content was 41.5 mol% and the 16S rRNA gene sequence was closely related to those of Methanosarcina lacustris DSM 13486(T) (99.1%) and Methanosarcina siciliae DSM 3028(T) (98.3%). Values for DNA-DNA hybridization with these strains were less than 30%. The phenotypic and phylogenetic features of HC-2(T) indicate that it represents a novel species of the genus Methanosarcina , for which the name Methanosarcina subterranea sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is HC-2(T) ( = DSM 22503(T) = JCM 15540(T) = NBRC 102578(T)).
authors.affiliation: Horonobe Research Institute for the Subsurface Environment, Northern Advancement Center for Science and Technology, Horonobe-cho, Teshio-gun, Hokkaido 098-3221, Japan.
authors.forename: Satoru
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shimizu
authors.affiliation: Horonobe Research Institute for the Subsurface Environment, Northern Advancement Center for Science and Technology, Horonobe-cho, Teshio-gun, Hokkaido 098-3221, Japan.
authors.forename: Akio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ueno
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Biosphere Science, Hiroshima University, Higashi-Hiroshima 739-8528, Japan.
authors.forename: Takeshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Naganuma
authors.affiliation: Horonobe Research Institute for the Subsurface Environment, Northern Advancement Center for Science and Technology, Horonobe-cho, Teshio-gun, Hokkaido 098-3221, Japan.
authors.forename: Katsuhiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kaneko
mesh_terms: D001482:Base Composition; D019641:DNA, Archaeal / Q000235:genetics; D019766:Genes, Archaeal; D060587:Groundwater / Q000382:microbiology*; D007564:Japan; D017020:Methanosarcina / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009693:Nucleic Acid Hybridization; D010802:Phylogeny; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D019641:DNA, Archaeal; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S