Thermus parvatiensis RL T sp. nov., Isolated from a Hot Water Spring, Located Atop the Himalayan Ranges at Manikaran, India

A Gram negative, yellow pigmented, rod shaped bacterium designated as RL T was isolated from a hot water spring (90–98 °C) located at Manikaran in Northern India. The isolate grows at 60–80 °C (optimum, 70 °C) and at pH 7.0–9.0 (optimum pH 7.2). Phylogenetic analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequences and levels of DNA–DNA relatedness together indicate that the new isolate represents a novel species of the genus Thermus with closest affinity to Thermus thermophilus HB8 T (99.5 %) followed by Thermus arciformis (96.4 %). A comparative analysis of partial sequences of housekeeping genes (HKG) further revealed that strain RL T is a novel species belonging to the genus Thermus . The melting G+C content of strain RL T was calculated as 68.7 mol%. The DNA–DNA relatedness value of strain RL T with its nearest neighbours (>97 %) was found to be less than 70 % indicating that strain RL T represents a novel species of the genus Thermus . MK-8 was the predominant respiratory quinone. The presence of characteristic phospholipid and glycolipid further confirmed that strain RL T belongs to the genus Thermus . The predominant fatty acids of strain RL T were iso-C 17:0 (23.67 %) and iso-C 15:0 (24.50 %). The results obtained after DNA–DNA hybridization, biochemical and physiological tests clearly distinguished strain RL T from its closely related species. Thus, strain RL T represents a novel species of the genus Thermus for which the name Thermus parvatiensis is proposed (=DSM 21745 T = MTCC 8932 T ).