Leucobacter sulfonamidivorax sp. nov.

Reis et al. (2019): ‘Candidatus Leucobacter sulfamidivorax’ [sul.fa.mi.di.vo’rax N.L. n. sulfamidum, sulfonamide; L. adj. Vorax devouring, ravenous, voracious; N.L. masc. Adj. sulfamidivorax, sulfonamide-degrading]. Forms a bacterial consortium with A. denitrificans strain PR1 and can only be cultured in association with this Proteobacteria. Cells stain Gram-positive, present a rod-shaped morphology (1.3 ± 0.03 μm long and 0.5 ± 0.03 μm wide), and are probably non-motile. It produces light yellow-colored colonies with less than 1 mm in diameter on top of the colonies of A. denitrificans strain PR1 after 10 d of incubation on 25% (w/v) BHI plates at 30 °C. In liquid medium, it constitutes between 1 and 4% of the total cells. In medium MMSY, the aerobic growth is significantly impaired at 37 °C when compared to that at 22 and 30 °C. Growths well at neutral (pH 7.2) and basic (pH 9.5) pH values when compared to that at pH 5.5. Grows better in oligotrophic media (e.g., MMSY), in comparison to complex and rich medium (e.g., BHI and TSA). Tolerates up to 8% (w/v) NaCl. The DNA G + C content is 69.68 mol%. The representative strain, GP, which degrades sulfonamides, was obtained from a sulfamethoxazole enrichment culture produced from activated sludge from an urban WWTP, in North Portugal, in 2011.