Table 6.

Phenotypic comparison of Desulfurispira natronophila from soda lake isolates with related bacteria from the phylum Chrysiogenetes.

Characteristic	Desulfurispira natronophila		Desulfurispirillum alkaliphilum	Chrysiogenes arsenatis
	AHT11T	AHT19
Cell morphology	Spirillum with bipolar flagellum			Vibrio, single polar flagellum
Autotrophic growth	–	–	–	–
ELECTRON DONORS
H2	+	–	+	–
Formate	+	–	–	–
Acetate, pyruvate, lactate, malate, succinate, fumarate	+	+	+	+
Propionate	+	+	+	–
Citrate	–	–	+	–
Glycerol	+	–	–	–
ELECTRON ACCEPTORS
O2	–	–	–	–
Sulfur (polysulfide)	+	+	+	–
(${\text{NO}}^{3^{-}},{\text{NO}}^{2^{\text{-}}}$ to NH3)	–	–	+	+
N2O	–	–	–	–
${\text{AsO}}_4^{3-}$	+	+	–	+
${\text{SeO}}_4^{2^{-}},$ Fe3+, ${\text{S}}_2{\text{O}}_3^{2^{-}},$	–	–	–	–
Oxidation of HS− with nitrate	–	–	+	nd
pH range (optimum)	8.5–10.9 (10.2)	8.2–10.5 (9.8)	8.0–10.2 (9.0)	Neutrophilic
Salt range (M Na+)	0.2–3.0	0.2–3.0	0.1–2.5	Na-independent
Habitat	Soda lakes		Bioreactor	Gold mine

The most essential properties are highlighted in bold.