A Small, Dilute-Cytoplasm, High-Affinity, Novel Bacterium Isolated by Extinction Culture and Having Kinetic Constants Compatible with Growth at Ambient Concentrations of Dissolved Nutrients in Seawater

Dilutions of raw seawater produced a bacterial isolate capable of extended growth in unamended seawater. Its 2.9-Mb genome size and 40-fg dry mass were similar to values for many naturally occurring aquatic organotrophs, but water and DNA comprised a large portion of this small chemoheterotroph, as compared to Escherichia coli. The isolate used only a few aromatic hydrocarbons and acetate, and glucose and amino acid incorporation were entirely absent, although many membrane and cytoplasmic proteins were inducible; it was named Cycloclasticus oligotrophus. A general rate equation that incorporates saturation phenomena into specific affinity theory is derived. It is used to relate the kinetic constants for substrate uptake by the isolate to its cellular proteins. The affinity constant K(A) for toluene was low at 1.3 μg/liter under optimal conditions, similar to those measured in seawater, and the low value was ascribed to an unknown slow step such as limitation by a cytoplasmic enzyme; K(A) increased with increasing specific affinities. Specific affinities, a°(s), were protocol sensitive, but under optimal conditions were 47.4 liters/mg of cells/h, the highest reported in the literature and a value sufficient for growth in seawater at concentrations sometimes found. Few rRNA operons, few cytoplasmic proteins, a small genome size, and a small cell size, coupled with a high a°(s) and a low solids content and the ability to grow without intentionally added substrate, are consistent with the isolation of a marine bacterium with properties typical of the bulk of those present.