Downloaded from www.microbiologyresearch.org by IP: 54.70.40.11 On: Sat, 20 Oct 2018 02:58:37 Zoogloea oleivorans sp. nov., a floc-forming, petroleum hydrocarbon-degrading bacterium isolated from biofilm Mila ´ n Farkas, 1,2 Andra ´s Ta ´ ncsics, 2 Bala ´ zs Kriszt, 1 Tibor Benedek, 2 Erika M. To ´ th, 3 Zsuzsa Ke ´ ki, 3 Pe ´ ter G. Veres 1 and Sa ´ ndor Szoboszlay 1 Correspondence Andra ´s Ta ´ ncsics tancsics.andras@fh.szie.hu 1 Department of Environmental Protection and Environmental Safety, Szent Istva ´ n University, Go ¨do ¨ llo ˝ , Hungary 2 Regional University Center of Excellence in Environmental Industry, Szent Istva ´ n University, Go ¨do ¨ llo ˝ , Hungary 3 Department of Microbiology, Eo ¨ tvo ¨ s Lora ´ nd University, Budapest, Hungary A floc-forming, Gram-stain-negative, petroleum hydrocarbon-degrading bacterial strain, designated Buc T , was isolated from a petroleum hydrocarbon-contaminated site in Hungary. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that strain Buc T formed a distinct phyletic lineage within the genus Zoogloea. Its closest relative was found to be Zoogloea caeni EMB43 T (97.2 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity) followed by Zoogloea oryzae A-7 T (95.9 %), Zoogloea ramigera ATCC 19544 T (95.5 %) and Zoogloea resiniphila DhA-35 T (95.4 %). The level of DNA–DNA relatedness between strain Buc T and Z. caeni EMB43 T was 31.6 %. Cells of strain Buc T are facultatively aerobic, rod-shaped, and motile by means of a polar flagellum. The strain grew at temperatures of 5–35 6C (optimum 25–28 6C), and at pH 6.0–9.0 (optimum 6.5–7.5). The predominant fatty acids were C 16 : 0 ,C 10 : 0 3-OH, C 12 : 0 and summed feature 3 (C 16 : 1 v7c and/or iso-C 15 : 0 2-OH). The major respiratory quinone was ubiquinone-8 (Q-8) and the predominant polar lipid was phosphatidylethanolamine. The genomic DNA G+C content was 63.2 mol%. On the basis of the chemotaxonomic, molecular and phenotypic data, isolate Buc T is considered to represent a novel species of the genus Zoogloea, for which the name Zoogloea oleivorans sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is Buc T (5DSM 28387 T 5NCAIM B 02570 T ). Members of the genus Zoogloea have mostly been isolated from wastewater sludge. They usually form aerobic granular sludge during wastewater treatment processes due to their floc-forming ability (Shao et al., 2009; Weissbrodt et al., 2013; Zhao et al., 2013). Cell aggregates are embedded in gelatinous matrices, the so-called zoogloeal matrices (Dugan et al., 1992), which serve as a good basis for microbial biofilm formation. At the time of writing the genus Zoogloea comprises four species with validly published names: Zoogloea caeni (Shao et al., 2009), Zoogloea ramigera (Crabtree & McCoy, 1967), Zoogloea resiniphila (Mohn et al., 1999) and Zoogloea oryzae (Xie & Yokota, 2006). Apart from in wastewater treatment processes, microbial biofilms can also play key roles in bioremediation of con- taminated ecosystems (Pastorella et al., 2012). Moreover, relatives of species of the genus Zoogloea have recently been identified as potential benzene-degrading bacteria (Jechalke et al., 2013). As petroleum hydrocarbons are frequent environmental contaminants, efforts have been made in our laboratory to isolate and characterize members of bacterial communities from biofilter clean-up facilities set up on hydrocarbon-contaminated sites (Szabo ´ et al., 2011). The present study describes a novel species of the genus Zoogloea isolated from a biofilm, which developed on the surface of a biofilter made for petroleum hydro- carbon removal. Strain Buc T was isolated from a biofilm sample originating from a Hungarian petroleum hydrocarbon-contaminated site where active bioremediation treatment was in progress. The biofilm sample was homogenized and serially diluted with 0.9 % (w/v) saline solution and subsequently spread on R2A agar (DSM medium No. 830) and incubated at 28 u C for 5 days for the isolation of bacteria. Short-term maintenance of isolates was performed on R2A agar at 28 u C for 5 days. The GenBank/EMBL/DDBJ accession number for the 16S rRNA gene sequence of strain Buc T is KF667502. One supplementary figure and one supplementary table are available with the online Supplementary Material. International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology (2015), 65, 274–279 DOI 10.1099/ijs.0.068486-0 274 068486 G 2015 IUMS Printed in Great Britain