TY - JOUR T1 - Unusual Sulfur Requirements During Laboratory Growth of <em>Luteibacter</em> JF - bioRxiv DO - 10.1101/149401 SP - 149401 AU - David A. Baltrus Y1 - 2017/01/01 UR - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2017/06/13/149401.1.abstract N2 - Many terrestrial bacteria are assumed to utilize sulfate transport and metabolism as a means for fulfilling cellular sulfur requirements. As such, many types of defined minimal media for bacterial growth under laboratory conditions contain sulfate as their sulfur source. Herein, an exception to this assumption is described as sulfate transport capabilities have been lost at least once (and maybe twice) in lineages of plant and fungi associated Luteibacter. However, Luteibacter sp. 9143 can grow in minimal media when sulfur is supplemented with both organic (cysteine and methionine) as well as inorganic (thiosulfate) compounds, and when co-cultured with its original fungal host. Furthermore, an independent strain of Luteibacter (UNC366Tsa5.1) potentially possesses an even narrower sulfur requirement than Luteibacter sp. 9143. These results highlight both the surprising sulfur requirements Luteibacter strains, which may be illustrative of close ties between these strains and associated eukaryotes, as well as a need for caution when interpreting novel auxotrophies based off of differential growth in minimal versus rich media. ER -