, was isolated from sludge collected from a biogas desulfurization bioreactor (Eerbeek, the Netherlands). Cells were nonspore-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 ZWB T was able to ferment glycerol and several carbohydrates mainly to H 2 , succinate and acetate. Sulfur and fumarate could be used as electron acceptors by strain ZWB T . The G+C content of the genomic DNA was 37.6 mol%. The most abundant fatty acids were iso-C 14 : 0 and iso-C 16 : 0 DMA. On the basis of 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity, strain ZWB T belongs to the family Succinate is a valuable energy-rich compound used for organic synthesis of 1,4-butanediol, tetrahydrofuran, butyrolactone and adipic acid (McKinlay et al., 2007). Bacteria that ferment succinic acid have application possibilities, especially anaerobes that produce more than 1 mol succinate per mole of glucose. Described anaerobic succinate producers include Fibrobacter succinogenes, Anaerobiospirillum succiniciproducens, Actinobacillus succinogenes, 'Mannheimia succiniciproducens' and Basfia succiniciproducens. These micro-organisms ferment sugars, but some ferment glycerol as well. The use of glycerol as carbon source by Anaerobiospirillum succiniciproducens resulted in higher succinate production and a much higher ratio of succinate to acetate than obtained with glucose (Lee et al., 2001). Crude glycerol is an important side product of biodiesel production and therefore an interesting substrate for succinate production (Choi, 2008). Due to the massive production of biodiesel (Röttig et al., 2010;Licht, 2012), the price of bulk glycerol has dropped considerably in the past decade (Yazdani & Gonzalez, 2007;Choi, 2008). In this work, we describe a novel anaerobic succinateproducing bacterium, strain ZWB T , that can utilize glycerol and several carbohydrates as main energy sources, forming H 2 , succinate and acetate. Based on its distinctive phenotypic, genotypic and phylogenetic characteristics, strain ZWB T is proposed to represent a novel species of a new genus.
Strain ZWBT was isolated from sludge collected from a biogas desulfurization bioreactor (Eerbeek, the Netherlands). Samples and dilutions thereof were inoculated in 120 ml serum vials with 50 ml of anoxic bicarbonate-buffered medium prepared as previously described (Stams et al., 1993). The basal medium was supplemented with 0.1 g yeast extract l
21, 20 mM glycerol as carbon and energy source, and 20 mM sulfate as potential electron acceptor. Routinely, cultures were incubated statically at 30 u C in the dark. When growth was detected, serial dilution series were made. The purity of the isolate was confirmed by microscopic observation. Chemical analysis of culture media pointed to fermentative growth of the isolate, and therefore sulfate was eliminated from media. In the first enrichments, 0.1 g yeast ex...