Staphylococcus sciuri Strain LCHXa is a Free-Living Lithium-Tolerant Bacterium Isolated from Salar de Atacama, Chile

Authors :: Tamara N. Caimanque
Benito Gómez-Silva
Jorge E. Araya
Nataly Flores
Alexandra Galetović
Claudia Vilo
Camila Salazar-Ardiles
Source :: Microorganisms, Vol 8, Iss 668, p 668 (2020), Microorganisms, Volume 8, Issue 5
Publication Year :: 2020
Publisher :: MDPI AG, 2020.
Abstract: In addition to the industrial and biomedical applications of lithium, information on the tolerance of microorganisms to high Li concentrations in natural biological systems is limited. Strain LCHXa is a novel free-living Gram-positive, non-motile bacterium strain isolated from water samples taken at Laguna Chaxa, a non-industrial water body with the highest soluble Li content (33 mM LiCl) within the Salar de Atacama basin in northern Chile. Enrichment was conducted in Luria-Bertani (LB) medium supplemented with 1 M LiCl. Strain LCHXa was a Novobiocin-resistant and coagulase negative Staphylococcus. Phylogenetically, strain LCHXa belongs to the species Staphylococcus sciuri. Strain LCHXa grew optimally in LB medium at pH 6&ndash<br />8 and 37 &deg<br />C, and it was able to sustain growth at molar Li concentrations at 2 M LiCl, with a decrease in the specific growth rate of 85%. Osmoregulation in strain LCHXa partially involves glycine betaine and glycerol as compatible solutes.

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