Mariprofundus ferrooxydans

Mariprofundus ferrooxydans is a neutrophilic chemolithotrophic gram-negative bacterium which can grow by oxidising ferrous to ferric iron. It is the sole member of the class Zetaproteobacteria in the phylum Proteobacteria

Discovery

The bacterium was isolated from iron-rich microbial mats associated with hydrothermal vents at a submarine volcano, Lōʻihi Seamount, near Hawai'i and has only 85.3% 16S similarity to its nearest cultivated species Methylophaga marina. It has a doubling time at 23°C of 12 hours and a curved rod (approximately 0.5×2â€"5 µm) morphology.

Etymology

Despite being validly published, the etymology of the generic epithet is grammatically incorrect, being a concatenation of the Latin neutral mare -is (the sea) with the Latin masculine adjective profundus (deep) intended to mean a deep-sea organism (the neutral form of profundus is profundum). The specific epithet is ferrum (Latin noun), iron and oxus (Greek adjective), acid or sour, and in combined words indicating oxygen. (N.L. v. oxydare, to make acid, to oxidize; N.L. part. adj. ferrooxydans, iron-oxidizing.)

See also

• Proteobacterial phylogeny for more on placement

References

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