A novel anaerobic, moderately thermophilic, peptide-fermenting bacterium, strain NGA(T), was isolated from an anaerobic wool-scouring wastewater treatment lagoon. The cells were gram-negative, straight rods of 0.5-1.0 x 2.0-4.0 microm, motile by means of a single flagellum. The DNA G+C content was 51.5 mol%. The optimum pH and temperature range for growth were 6.6-7.3 and 55-60 degrees C, respectively. The optimum NaCl concentration was 0.08 g l(-1). The bacterium fermented organic acids (malate, tartrate, pyruvate, glycerol and fumarate), a few carbohydrates (starch, glucose, fructose and gluconate), Casamino acids, tryptone and yeast extract. Carbohydrates and organic acids were converted to acetate, hydrogen and CO2. The bacterium oxidized leucine to isovalerate with crotonate as an electron acceptor, but not in co-culture with Methanothermobacter thermoautotrophicus DSM 3720T. Thiosulfate, sulfur and cystine were reduced to sulfide and crotonate was reduced to butyrate with glucose and tryptone-yeast extract as electron donors. Phylogenetic analysis of the 16S rRNA gene indicated that strain NGA(T) was related to Anaerobaculum thermoterrenum (98% similarity), the only described species of the genus. The DNA-DNA hybridization value for strain NGA(T) and A. thermoterrenum ACM 5076T was 40.8%. On the basis of these results, strain NGA(T) is proposed as a novel species of the genus Anaerobaculum, namely Anaerobaculum mobile sp. nov. The type strain is NGA(T) (= DSM 13181T =ATCC BAA-54T).