A novel anaerobic succinate-producing bacterium, strain ZWBT, was isolated from sludge collected from a biogas desulfurization bioreactor (Eerbeek, the Netherlands).

A novel anaerobic succinate-producing bacterium, strain ZWBT, was isolated from sludge collected from a biogas desulfurization bioreactor (Eerbeek, the Netherlands). Cells were non- spore-forming, motile, slightly curved rods (0.4–0.5 mm in diameter and 2–3 mm in length), and stained Gram-negative. The temperature range for growth was 25–40 6C, with an optimum at 37 6C. The pH range for growth was 7.0–9.0, with an optimum at pH 7.5. Strain ZWBT was able to ferment glycerol and several carbohydrates mainly to H2, succinate and acetate. Sulfur and fumarate could be used as electron acceptors by strain ZWBT. The G+C content of the genomic DNA was 37.6 mol%. The most abundant fatty acids were iso-C14 : 0 and so-C16 : 0 DMA. On the basis of 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity, strain ZWBT belongs to the family Ruminococcaceae and it is distantly related to Saccharofermentans acetigenes JCM 14006T (92.1 %). Based on the physiological features and phylogenetic analysis, strain ZWBT represents a novel species of a new genus, for which the name Ercella succinigenes gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain of Ercella succinigenes is ZWBT (5DSM 27333T5JCM 19283T).