New to Science: Microbes from dogs, fish and ice cores
Posted on April 24, 2017 by Anand Jagatia
Each month, the Microbiology Society publishes the International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology (IJSEM), which details newly discovered species of bacteria, fungi and protists. Here are a few of the new species that have been discovered and the places they’ve been found.
There’s a triptych of new Chryseobacterium species in our latest issue. C. cucumeris has been isolated from the root of a cucumber by a team from South Korea, while another group from the country has discovered C. nepalense in oil-contaminated soil. The final species, C. endophyticum, was isolated from a maize leaf by microbiologists from Taiwan.
A team of scientists from China have found a new bacterium inside an ice core drilled from the Ulugh Muztagh glacier. Conditions here are extremely harsh, combining low temperature and nutrients with high UV radiation. The team managed to cultivate orange bacterial colonies from the melted ice core, and they name the species Polymorphobacter glacialis.
Image: Snow Day by brando.n on Flickr under CC BY 2.0
Two animal-related finds this month. Scientists from Switzerland have isolated a novel bacterium from sites of skin infection in dogs, after an infected Bernese mountain dog caught their attention. They propose the name Macrococcus canis for the species, which they subsequently also found in several healthy animals. And researchers from China have discovered the new species Chelatococcus composti, isolated from penicillin residue with pig manure co-compost.
Lastly for this month, microbiologists from Chile and Spain have isolated the pathogen Vibrio tapetis from two species of fish, the red conger eel and the fine flounder. Isolates were taken from diseased fish with skin lesions. The bacteria taken from the fine flounder represent a new subdivision, which the team name V. tapetis subsp. quintayensis.
The full papers describing these species are available to journal subscribers, but the abstracts are free to read. Articles can also purchased individually with the pay-per-view option.
