Characterization of a Novel Red-Pigmented Bacterium Isolated from a Large Hailstone

Hailstones have been used as natural sampling devices to study cloud water chemical composition.  This investigation represents the first time hailstones have been used as biological samplers of a storm cloud. A dark red-pigmented bacterium was isolated from a large (4.0cm in diameter) hailstone collected in the Northern Rocky Mountains during June 2010. Preliminary evidence of partial 16S rRNA gene sequence implies that the hailstone isolate is a novel species of the Hymenobacter genus. We are currently determining the full length 16S rRNA gene sequence of this organism and testing the growth and metabolic characteristics of this bacterium.  I will present details of the formation of this hailstone, the methods used to isolate it and the physiological and genomic traits of this organism.