Oleispira antarctica
| Oleispira antarctica | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Bacteria |
| Phylum: | Proteobacteria |
| Class: | Gammaproteobacteria |
| Order: | Oceanospirillales |
| Family: | Oceanospirillaceae |
| Genus: | Oleispira |
| Species: | O. antarctica |
| Binomial name | |
|
Oleispira antarctica Yakimov et al. 2003 |
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Oleispira antarctica is a hydrocarbonoclastic marine bacterium, the type species in its genus. It is psychrophilic, aerobic and Gram-negative, with polar flagellum. Its genome has been sequenced and from this information, it has been recognized as a potentially important organism capable of oil degradation in the deep sea.
Oleispira antarctica, "oleum" meaning oil, "spira" meaning a spire (in other words, coiled or twisted) for a combined meaning of a spiral-shaped, oil-degrading organism from Antarctica.
Based on sequencing of 16S ribosomal RNA genes conducted by Yakimov et al., phylogenetically, this organism is related most closely to species of Oceanobacter, Marinobacterium, and Marinomonas. It belongs to the class Gammaproteobacteria and had its own phyletic line within the class. Its 16S rRNA gene sequences were no more than 90% similar to any other Gammaproteobacteria 16S rRNA gene sequence, and thus represented a novel species within a new genus.O. antarctica was the first species in the new genus, but another new species, Oleispira lenta, was characterized 9 years later. Sequencing of O. lenta's 16S ribosomal RNA genes revealed sequence similarity of about 97.2% to O. antarctica.
Oleispira antarctica was isolated and characterized from shallow samples of sea water collected from the inlet portion of Rod Bay in the Ross Sea (74°41.753'S, 164°07.188'E) during an expedition from the summer season in Antarctica of 1999 to the same time in the year 2000 by Yakimov et al. The investigators performed enrichment and incubation of collected samples in 20 ml volumes of crude oil and additional nutrients. After 2 months of enrichment at 4 °C, cultures were diluted in tubes containing solutions of mineral medium of type ONR7a that were additionally supplemented with more crude light oil. These tube cultures were then incubated in darkness until turbidity (which was used to indicate bacterial growth changes over some period of time) became high enough to indicate saturated growth samples (which took approximately 2 months). These cultures were then diluted and the most diluted cultures (10−4) with positive growth were plated on solid form ONR7a mineral medium that also contained tetradecane (a 14 carbon hydrocarbon). After 15 days and further incubation at 4 °C, the investigators retrieved individual colonies.
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