ABSTRACT: Twelve thermophilic Anoxybacillus strains were isolated from sediment and water samples from a Karvachar hot spring located in the northern part of Nagorno-Karabakh. Based on phenotypic, chemotaxonomic and phylogenetic characteristics, one of the isolates, designated strain K1T, was studied in detail. The cells are straight, motile rods that are 0.2-0.4×2.3-7.2 µm in size. The strain is a Gram-stain-positive, moderately thermophilic facultative anaerobe with an optimum growth temperature of 60-65 °C and a growth temperature range of 45-70 °C. Growth of strain K1T was observed at pH 6-11 (optimum, pH 8-9) and was inhibited in the presence of NaCl concentrations above 2.5 % (optimum, 1-1.5 %). The isolate could utilize a wide variety of carbon sources, including d-arabinose, d-ribose, d-galactose, d-fructose, d-mannitol, maltose, aesculin, melibiose, sucrose, trehalose, raffinose, amidone, glycogen, turanose, d-lyxose, d-tagatose, potassium gluconate and 2-keto-gluconate. The strain was able to hydrolyse starch, casein and gelatin, was positive for oxidase and catalase, and reduced nitrate to nitrite, but was negative for H2S production. Production of urease and indole was not observed. The major cellular fatty acids were C15 : 0 iso, C16 : 0 and C17 : 0 iso (52.5, 13.6 and 19.6 % of total fatty acids, respectively). Strain K1T shares >99 % 16S rRNA sequence similarity and a genomic average nucleotide identity value of 94.5 % with its closest relative, Anoxybacillus flavithermus DSM 2641T, suggesting that it represents a separate and novel species, for which the name Anoxybacillus karvacharensis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain of Anoxybacillus karvacharensis is K1T (=DSM 106524T=KCTC 15807T).
