Characterization of Bacterial Strain C17T

After 24 h of incubation, the bacterial cells were Gram-stained and observed using a Leica DM 500 photonic microscope (Leica Microsystems, Nanterre Cedex, France) with a 100 × oil immersion lens. Cell morphology was determined using a scanning electron microscope (Hitachi, Tokyo, Japan) set to the following conditions: accelerating voltage 30,000 V, magnification 7000, working distance 6700 μm, and emission current 112,000 nA. Cell motility was evaluated on soft agar plates (Xu et al. 2013 (link)). To determine the optimal culture conditions, several culture conditions were tested for strain C17^T. Culture assays were performed on Columbia agar supplemented with 5% defibrinated sheep blood (bioMerieux) at temperatures ranging from 4 to 45 °C (4 °C, 15 °C, 20 °C, 22 °C, 25 °C, 30 °C, 35 °C, 37 °C, 42 °C and 45 °C). The salt tolerance of strain C17^T was tested at various NaCl concentrations (1.5%, 2.0%, 2.5%, 3.0%, 3.5%, 4.5% and 6.5%). The oxygen demand was tested under aerobic, anaerobic, and microaerophilic (GENbag; BioMerieux) conditions. Different pH values (from 4.0 to 10.0) were also tested. Hemolytic activity was observed on Columbia blood agar plates. Catalase assays (bioMerieux) were performed following standard protocols. The oxidase reaction was assessed using the Becton Dickinson oxidase reagent (Becton Dickinson, Franklin Lakes, NJ, USA).