Description of Tessaracoccus profundi sp.nov., a deep-subsurface actinobacterium isolated from a Chesapeake impact crater drill core (940 m depth)

A novel actinobacterium, designated CB31 T , was isolated from a 940 m depth sample of a drilling core obtained from the Chesapeake meteor impact crater. The strain was isolated aerobically on R2A medium agar plates supplemented with NaCl (20 g l −1 ) and MgCl 2 ·6H 2 O (3 g l −1 ). The colonies were circular, convex, smooth and orange. Cells were slightly curved, rod-shaped in young cultures and often appeared in pairs. In older cultures cells were coccoid. Cells stained Gram-positive, were non-motile and did not form endospores. The diagnostic diamino acid of the peptidoglycan was ll -diaminopimelic acid. The polar lipids included phosphatidylglycerol, diphosphatidglycerol, four different glycolipids, two further phospholipids and [...]