Isolation and Characterization of Novel Denitrifying Bacterium Geobacillus sp. SG-01 Strain from Wood Chips Composted with Swine Manure

Nitrate contamination in ground and surface water is an increasingly serious environmental problem and only a few bacterial strains have been identified that have the ability to remove nitrogen pollutants from wastewater under thermophilic conditions. We therefore isolated thermophilic facultative bacterial strains from wood chips that had been composted with swine manure under aerated high temperature conditions so as to identify strains with denitrifying ability. Nine different colonies were screened and 3 long rod-shaped bacterial strains designated as SG-01, SG-02, and SG-03 were selected. The strain SG-01 could be differentiated from SG-02 and SG-03 on the basis of the method that it used for sugar utilization. The 16S rRNA genes of this strain also had high sequence similarity with Geobacillus thermodenitrificans 465(T) (99.6%). The optimal growth temperatures (55°C), pH values (pH 7.0), and NaCl concentrations (1%) required for the growth of strain SG-01 were established. This strain reduced 1.18 mM nitrate and 1.45 mM nitrite in LB broth after 48 h of incubation. These results suggest that the G. thermodenitrificans SG-01 strain may be useful in the removal of nitrates and nitrites from wastewater generated as a result of livestock farming.