Potential threat from marine bacteria?
Dr. Joachim Kremerskothen
Members of the SAR86 group of marine bacteria were risk-assessed for the first time by the ZKBS in February 2024.
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The Monterey Bay Gammaproteobacterium EBAC31A08 (also known as uncultured marine gamma proteobacterium EBAC31A08 ) is a previously uncultivated bacterium of the SAR86 group. EBAC31A08 was isolated in 2000 from samples of the uppermost layer of sea water isolated from the Californian coast (Monterey Bay). Based on the encoded 16S/23S rRNA genes, the bacterium was assigned to the SAR86 group. These bacteria are oligotrophic and chemoheterotrophic. marine bacteria whose exact taxonomic classification remains unclear. The first members of the SAR86 group were isolated from bacterioplankton samples from the Sargasso Sea, which is also where the group name "SAR" comes from. Since then, members of the SAR86 group have been detected worldwide, mostly in the uppermost seawater layers of predominantly nutrient-poor waters.
Bacteria of the SAR86 group have not yet been in vitro be cultivated. In situ (marine open water), the bacteria grow very slowly with a doubling time of about two days. So far, there is no evidence that the small genome of the SAR86 group (compared to other marine bacteria) Virulence factors The SAR86 group is phylogenetically distant from other cultivated Gammaproteobacteri a. In the closest related orders, there are numerous marine bacteria of risk group 1, in the genus Pseudomonas but also representatives of animal and human pathogenic species of risk group 2.
According to Section 5 Paragraph 1 GenTSV in conjunction with the criteria in Annex 1 GenTSV, the ZKBS classifies the representatives of the SAR86 group, including the Monterey Bay Gammaproteobacterium EBAC31A08, as donor and recipient organisms for genetic engineering work in the Risk group 1 Attempts to identify the worldwide representatives of the SAR86 group in vitro Attempts to cultivate them have so far failed. Lack of growth or very weak growth, even on complex media, usually rules out such bacteria as pathogens. Furthermore, there is currently no evidence of a potential risk from members of the SAR86 group.
The complete ZKBS statement can be found at File number 45241.0261 can be retrieved.
