Subsaximicrobium wynnwilliamsii

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Classification

Higher order taxa

Domain – Bacteria Phylum – Bacteroidetes Class – Flavobacteria Family – Flavobacteriaceae Genus – Subsaximicrobium

Species

Subsaximicrobium wynnwilliamsii; a bright-orange or golden-yellow colored microbe, with colonies that are circular, convex, and has a butter like consistency (butyrous).

History

The microbe species, Subsaximicrobium wynnwilliamsii was named in honor of the British Antarctic microbiologist named D.D. Wynn-Williams. David Wynn-Williams dedicated his life to the study of microorganisms in polar environments. His work throughout his life was mainly focused on the ecology of nitrogen-fixing marine bacteria along with becoming one of the leading soil microbiologist and researching Antarctic microbial populations throughout his life. Unfortunately David Wynn-Williams died at the young age of 55 from a traffic accident while jogging near his own home.

Environment

Subsaximicrobium wynnwilliamsii is found to thrive in the Antarctic region, and this specific species is found to multiply and inhabit lithic (relating to rocks or stones) cyanobacteria biofilms under quartz stones. Subsaximicrobium wynnwilliamsii specifically grows on the underbelly of the quartz stone partially buried in the soil of Antarctica. This species grows so well in this environment because it is protected from the extremes climates, and also it lives among many chemoheterotrophic bacteria meaning that one microbe can help another gains organic molecules to get energy. This species is considered halophilic, meaning that it thrives in approximately 0.3-0.4M of NaCl, a salt rich environment.

Subsaximicrobium wynnwilliamsii environment must be cold, when testing the species in a laboratory, microbiologist concluded that Subsaximicrobium wynnwilliamsii grows well in marine broth at 1-20°C but can grow even in temperatures as low as -2°C. Subsaximicrobium wynnwilliamsii’s growth is severely slowed when temperatures reach 25°C, making Antarctica a great place for this microbe to live.

Metabolism

Subsaximicrobium wynnwilliamsii is considered and chemoheterotrophic microbe, meaning that it is unable to create its own building blocks. In order to get energy this bacteria must ingest organic nitrogen sources such as sodium nitrate and ammonium chloride to get energy; and also ingest organic carbon molecules such as carbohydrates and lipids. The Subsaximicrobium wynnwilliamsii bacteria obtains energy by oxidizing inorganic molecules in their environment. Also the Subsaximicrobium wynnwilliamsii bacteria can not fix carbon and use organic carbon for growth.

References

Bowman, J.P. and D.S Nichols. 2005. “Novel members of the family Flavobacteriaceae from Antarctic maritime habitats including Subsaximicrobium wynnwilliamsii gen. nov., sp. nov., Subsaximicrobium saxinquilinus sp. nov., Subsaxibacter broadyi gen. nov., sp. Nov., Lacinutrix copapodicola gen. nov., sp. Nov., and novel species of the genera Bizionia Gelidibacter and Gillisia”. Int. J. Syst. Evol. Microbiol. 2005. Volume 55. p. 1471-1486.

Chemoautotrophs and Chemoheterotrophs. (n.d.). Boundless. Retrieved March 11, 2014, from https://www.boundless.com/microbiology/microbial-metabolism/types-of metabolism/chemoautotrophs-and-chemoheterotrophs/

David Wynn-Williams. (2002, April 15). The Guardian. Retrieved March 11, 2014, from http://www.theguardian.com/news/2002/apr/

Edited by (insert your name here!), student of Rachel Larsen at the University of Southern Maine

Paige Pilsbury