A heterotrophic bacterium inhibits growth of several species of the genus Chlorobium

A gram-negative bacterium (designed as strain BF 9500) causing growth inhibition zones on cell lawns of the anoxygenic pholotrophic bacterium Chlorobium limicola BF 8000 was isolated from Lake Ciso (Spain). Strain BF 9500, identified as Stenotrophomonas maltophilia, caused growth inhibition zones on cell lawns of several strains of C. limicola except C. limicola DSM 245. It also inhibited other Chlorobium species and several heterotrophic bacteria. However, it had no effect on the growth of the eleven strains of Chromatiaceae tested. Strain BF 9500 caused the lysis of C. limicola BF 8000, whose cells formed 'ghosts. To date, this is the first report of a bacterium calming the lysis of species of the genus Chlorobium.