# Pollutimonas rozaliensis sp. nov., a novel bacterium isolated from gold ore of the active Rozalia mine (Central Europe, Slovakia)

## TL;DR

A new species of bacteria, Pollutimonas rozaliensis, was discovered in a gold mine in Slovakia and is resistant to heavy metals.

## Contribution

The discovery and characterization of a novel heavy-metal-resistant bacterium, Pollutimonas rozaliensis sp. nov., isolated from a gold mine.

## Key findings

- Strain H1-120T belongs to the Pollutimonas genus and is distinct from other species based on genomic and phenotypic data.
- The genome of H1-120T has a G+C content of 59.9 mol% and a size of 4.6 Mb.
- Phylogenetic and phylogenomic analyses confirmed the novelty of the species.

## Abstract

Strain H1-120T was isolated from a heap of mined rock at the Rozalia gold mine (Slovakia) during a study of heavy-metal-resistant microbiota. The cells are Gram-negative, oxidase- and catalase-positive, with optimal growth at 35 °C, pH 6.5–7.5, and 0.5% (w/v) NaCl. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences, together with phylogenomic analysis, placed strain H1-120T within the Pollutimonas genus, with Pollutimonas subterranea (98.2%), Pollutimonas bauzanensis (98.0%), and Pollutimonas thiosulfatoxidans (98.0%) as the closest related type strains. Digital DNA–DNA hybridisation, average nucleotide identity, and average amino acid identity values between strain H1-120T and its closely related type strains of the genera Pollutimonas, Pusillimonas, Parapusillimonas, Allopusillimonas, Mesopusillimonas, Neopusillimonas, Eoetvoesiella and Candidimonas ranged from 19.4% to 22.9%, 71.53% to 80.6%, and 65.47% to 78.72%, respectively. The predominant respiratory quinones were Q8 (98.0%), Q9 (1.2%), and Q7 (0.8%). The major fatty acids were C16:0, C18:1
ω7c, and C17:0 cyclo, together with summed feature 2 (iso-C16:1 I/C14:0 3-OH and/or C12:0 ALDE) and summed feature 3 (C16:1
ω7c and/or C16:1
ω6c). The polar lipid profile consisted of phosphatidylglycerol, diphosphatidylglycerol, and phosphatidylethanolamine, together with unidentified aminophospholipids. The genome of strain H1-120T has a G + C content of 59.9 mol% and a size of 4.6 Mb. Based on the 16S rRNA gene phylogeny, genomic data, and phenotypic characteristics of strain H1-120T, a novel species with the name Pollutimonas rozaliensis sp. nov., is proposed. The type strain is H1-120T (= DSM 118324T = CCM 9437T).

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00203-026-04852-3.