Schleifer, Karl‐Heinz

Abstract Mag.ne'to.bac.te'ri.um. Gr. n. magnes magnet, comb. form magneto‐; Gr. n. bakterion a small rod; M.L. neut. n. Magnetobacterium a magnetic rod. Rod‐shaped, large, magnetic cells occurring in freshwater sediments. The original description is based on bacteria enriched from the littoral sediment of a freshwater lake in Southern Germany (Chiemsee); similar types of bacteria were also observed in sediments of other freshwater lakes and ponds in Southern Germany and Brazil. Counts of active bacteria in different vertical layers of Chiemsee sediment indicated that “ Candidatus M. bavaricum” is a typical gradient organism, particularly adapted to zones characterized by low levels of oxygen, where it reaches the highest abundance (Spring et al., 1993). A minor fraction of these bacteria was also found in the anoxic zone, whereas high concentrations of oxygen can apparently not be tolerated by this bacterium over longer periods of time. Type species : “ Candidatus Magnetobacterium bavaricum ” Spring, Amann, Ludwig, Schleifer, van Gemerden and Petersen 1993, 2398. Taxonomic and Nomenclature Notes According to the List of Prokaryotic names with Standing in Nomenclature (LPSN), the taxonomic status of the genus Candidatus Magnetobacterium is: synonym (and no standing) (last update, February 2025) * . LPSN classification: Bacteria / Pseudomonadati / Nitrospirota / Nitrospiria / Nitrospirales / Nitrospiraceae / Candidatus Magnetobacterium The genus Candidatus Magnetobacterium can also be recovered in the Genome Taxonomy Database (GTDB) as g__Magnetobacterium (version v220) ** . GTDB classification: d__Bacteria / p__Nitrospirota / c__Thermodesulfovibrionia / o__Thermodesulfovibrionales / f__Magnetobacteriaceae / g__Magnetobacterium * Meier‐Kolthoff et al. ( 2022 ). Nucleic Acids Res , 50 , D801 – D807 ; DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkab902 ** Parks et al. ( 2022 ). Nucleic Acids Res , 50 , D785 – D794 ; DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkab776

Acanthamoebae are increasingly being recognized as hosts for obligate bacterial endosymbionts, most of which are presently uncharacterized. In this study, the phylogeny of three Gram‐negative, rod‐shaped endosymbionts and their Acanthamoeba host cells was analysed by the rRNA approach. Comparative analyses of 16S rDNA sequences retrieved from amoebic cell lysates revealed that the endosymbionts of Acanthamoeba polyphaga HN‐3, Acanthamoeba sp. UWC9 and Acanthamoeba sp. UWE39 are related to the Paramecium caudatum endosymbionts Caedibacter caryophilus, Holospora elegans a n d Holospora obtusa . With overall 16S rRNA sequence similarities to their closest relative, C. caryophilus , of between 87% and 93%, these endosymbionts represent three distinct new species. In situ hybridization with fluorescently labelled endosymbiont‐specific 16S rRNA‐targeted probes demonstrated that the retrieved 16S rDNA sequences originated from the endosymbionts and confirmed their intracellular localization. We propose to classify provisionally the endosymbiont of Acanthamoeba polyphaga HN‐3 as ‘ Candidatus Caedibacter acanthamoebae’, the endosymbiont of Acanthamoeba sp. strain UWC9 as ‘ Candidatus Paracaedibacter acanthamoebae’ and the endosymbiont of Acanthamoeba sp. strain UWE39 as ‘ Candidatus Paracaedibacter symbiosus’. The phylogeny of the Acanthamoeba host cells was analysed by comparative sequence analyses of their 18S rRNA. Although Acanthamoeba polyphaga HN‐3 clearly groups together with most of the known Acanthamoeba isolates (18S rRNA sequence type 4), Acanthamoeba sp. UWC9 and UWE39 exhibit < 92% 18S rRNA sequence similarity to each other and to other Acanthamoeba isolates. Therefore, we propose two new sequence types (T13 and T14) within the genus Acanthamoeba containing, respectively, Acanthamoeba sp. UWC9 and Acanthamoeba sp. UWE39.

A morphologically conspicuous bacterium that constituted a very small fraction (< 0.01%) of the total microbial community of activated sludge was enriched and analysed phylogenetically by a combination of cultivation‐independent molecular and physical methods. The large, corkscrew‐shaped, filamentous bacteria were first detected in municipal activated sludge by light microscopy owing to their unusual rotating gliding motility. Various attempts at microbiological enrichment and pure culture isolation with traditional techniques failed, as did attempts to retrieve the morphotype of interest by micromanipulation. In situ hybridization with the group‐specific, rRNA‐targeted oligonucleotide probe CF319a indicated a phylogenetic affiliation to the Cytophaga–Flexibacter group of the Cytophaga – Flavobacterium–Bacteroides phylum. Based on strong morphological resemblance to members of the genus Saprospira , additional 16S rRNA‐targeted oligonucleotides with more narrow specificity were designed and evaluated for in situ hybridization to the morphotype of interest. Flow cytometric cell sorting based on the fluorescence conferred by probe SGR1425 and forward scatter enabled a physical enrichment of the helical coiled cells. Subsequent polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of 16S rDNA fragments from whole fixed sorted cells with a primer pair based on probes CF319a and SGR1425 resulted in the retrieval of 12 almost identical partial 16S rDNA fragments with sequence similarities among each other of more than 99.2%. In situ hybridizations proved that the sequences that showed the highest similarity (88.4%) to the 16S rRNA of Saprospira grandis were indeed retrieved from the corkscrew‐shaped filaments. The bacterium is likely to be a member of a genus of which no species has been cultured hitherto. It was consequently tentatively named ‘Magnospira bakii’ and has the taxonomic rank of Candidatus Magnospira bakii, as the ultimate taxonomic placement has to await its cultivation. In this study, it was demonstrated that even bacteria occurring at very low frequencies in highly complex environmental samples can be retrieved selectively without cultivation for further molecular analysis.