Thiobacillus

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Thiobacillus is a genus of Gram-negative Betaproteobacteria. Thiobacillus thioparus is the type species of the genus, and the type strain thereof is the Starkey^T strain, isolated by Robert Starkey in the 1930s from a field at Rutgers University in the United States of America. While over 30 "species" have been named in this genus since it was defined by Martinus Beijerinck in 1904,<ref name="Beijerinck1904a">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name=Beijerinck1904b>Template:Cite journal</ref> (the first strain was observed by the biological oceanographer Alexander Nathansohn in 1902 - likely what we would now call Halothiobacillus neapolitanus<ref name = boden2017ed>Template:Cite journal</ref>), most names were never validly or effectively published. The remainder were either reclassified into Paracoccus, Starkeya (both in the Alphaproteobacteria); Sulfuriferula, Annwoodia, Thiomonas (in the Betaproteobacteria); Halothiobacillus, Guyparkeria (in the Gammaproteobacteria), or Thermithiobacillus or Acidithiobacillus (in the Acidithiobacillia). The very loosely defined "species" Thiobacillus trautweinii was where sulfur oxidising heterotrophs and chemolithoheterotrophs were assigned in the 1910-1960s era, most of which were probably Pseudomonas species.<ref name =Bodenetal2017 /> Many species named in this genus were never deposited in service collections and have been lost.<ref name =Bodenetal2017 /><ref name =boden2017ed />

All species are obligate autotrophs<ref name="Beijerinck1904a" /><ref name=Beijerinck1904b /><ref name=boden2017ed /> (using the transaldolase form of the Calvin-Benson-Bassham cycle<ref name =Bodenetal2017 />) using elementary sulfur, thiosulfate, or polythionates as energy sources - the former Thiobacillus aquaesulis can grow weakly on complex media as a heterotroph, but has been reclassified to Annwoodia aquaesulis. Some strains (E6 and Tk-m) of the type species Thiobacillus thioparus can use the sulfur from dimethylsulfide, dimethyldisulfide, or carbon disulfide to support autotrophic growth - they oxidise the carbon from these species into carbon dioxide and assimilate it. Sulfur oxidation is achieved via the Kelly-Trudinger pathway.

Reclassifications

As a result of 16S ribosomal RNA sequence analysis, many members of Thiobacillus have been reassigned.<ref name=Kelly2000 /><ref name=Bodenetal2017 /><ref name=Boden2017 />

• Thiobacillus versutus to Paracoccus
• Thiobacillus acidophilus to Acidiphilium
• Thiobacillus intermedius, Thiobacillus perometabolis, Thiobacillus thermosulfatus, and Thiobacilus cuprinus to Thiomonas
• Thiobacillus thiooxidans, Thiobacillus ferrooxidans, Thiobacillus caldus, and Thiobacillus albertensis to Acidithiobacillus
• Thiobacillus aquaesulis to Annwoodia aquaesulis.<ref name=Bodenetal2017>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• Thiobacillus neapolitanus to Halothiobacillus
• Thiobacillus thyasiris to Thiomicrospira thyasirae<ref name=WoodKelly1993>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• Thiobacillus hydrothermalis and Thiobacillus halophilus firstly to Halothiobacillus and later to Guyparkeria<ref name=Boden2017>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• Thiobacillus tepidarius to Thermithiobacillus<ref name=Kelly2000>Template:Cite journal</ref>