University of Missouri-Rolla biologists studying the mineral-rich waters of Soap Lake in Washington state recently discovered a new genus of bacteria in the lake. Their findings will be presented at the General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology to be held May 23-27 in New Orleans. The bacteria, “Nitrumincola lacisaponis,” was isolated from a sample of pink-tinted driftwood collected from the shore of Soap Lake by Dr. Melanie Mormile, an environmental microbiologist and associate professor of biological sciences at UMR.“While it is too early to know potential uses of this novel bacterium without further study, we’re excited about the rich microbial diversity of the lake,” Mormile said.
