Nitrogen-fixing and cellulose-producing Gluconacetobacter kombuchae sp. nov., isolated from Kombucha tea

Authors:
Debasree Dutta, Ratan Gachhui

Abstract:
A few members of the family Acetobacteraceae are cellulose-producers, while only six members fix nitrogen. Bacterial strain RG3T, isolated from Kombucha tea, displays both of these
characteristics. A high bootstrap value in the 16S rRNA gene sequence-based phylogenetic analysis supported the position of this strain within the genus Gluconacetobacter, with Gluconacetobacter hansenii LMG 1527T as its nearest neighbour (99.1% sequence similarity). It could utilize ethanol, fructose, arabinose, glycerol, sorbitol, and mannitol, but not galactose or xylose, as sole sources of carbon. Single amino acids such as L-alanine, L-cysteine, and L-threonine served as carbon and nitrogen sources for the growth of strain RG3T. Strain RG3T produced cellulose in both nitrogen-free broth and enriched medium. The ubiquinone present was Q-10 and the DNA base composition was 55.8 mol% G+C. It exhibited low values of 5.2-27.77% DNA-DNA relatedness to the type strains of related gluconacetobacters, which placed it within a separate taxon, for which the name Gluconacetobacter kombucha sp. nov. is proposed, with the type strain RG3T (=LMG 23726T=MTCC 6913T).




Country: India

Citation: International journal of systematic and evolutionary microbiology, 57(2), 353-357.

Study Mailing Address:
Department of Life Science & Biotechnology, Jadavpur University, Kolkata 700032, West

Date Updated: March 12, 2020