Spirochaeta thermophila DSM 6192

Known members of the Spirochaeta genus are anaerobes or facultative anaerobes isolated from a variety of aquatic habitats such as the sediments and the water column of ponds, lakes, rivers and oceans. Spirochaeta thermophila is a thermophilic, free-living obligate anaerobe which is able to degrade various alpha- and beta-linked sugar polymers, including cellulose and hemicellulose, the two main components of plant biomass. Strain DSM 6192 was isolated from brackish thermal Spring RI 19 on the edge of Green Lake on Raoul Island in the Kermadec archipelago about 1000 km northeast of New Zealand. Growth occurred over the pH range 6.25-7.15 with an optimum pH of 6.95. It grows between 44 to 73 degrees Celsius with an optimum between 64 and 66 degrees Celsius. Growth occurred at NaC1 concentrations between 0.1% and 2.5%, with an optimum around 0.4%. It has been found to encode a large number of glycoside hydrolases. The genome data indicates that cellulose and hemicellulose degradation in S. thermophila is accomplished by a non-cellulosomal enzyme system (adapted from PMID 20935097 and Arch Microbiol (1991) 155:396-401). (EBI Integr8)