Viability and potential for immigration of airborne bacteria from Africa that reach high mountain lakes in Europe.

We have analysed the diversity of the bacteria, which grow after addition of concentrated airborne particles and desert dust in different microcosms combinations with water samples from oligotrophic alpine lakes. We used, on the one hand, airborne bacteria transported by an African dust plume and collected in a high mountain area in the central Pyrenees (Spain). On the other hand, we collected desert dust in Mauritania (c. 3000 km distance, and a few days estimated airborne journey), a known source region for dust storms in West Africa, which originates many of the dust plumes landing on Europe. In all the dust-amended treatments we consistently observed bacterial growth of common phyla usually found in freshwater ecosystems, i.e. Alpha-, Beta- and Gammaproteobacteria, Actinobacteria, and a few Bacteroidetes, but with different composition based on lake water pretreatment and dust type. Overall, we tentatively split the bacterial community in (i) typical freshwater non-airborne bacteria, (ii) cosmopolitan long-distance airborne bacteria, (iii) non-freshwater low-distance airborne bacteria, (iv) non-freshwater long-distance airborne soil bacteria and (v) freshwater non-soil airborne bacteria. We identified viable long-distance airborne bacteria as immigrants in alpine lakes (e.g. Sphingomonas-like) but also viable putative airborne pathogens with the potential to grow in remote alpine areas (Acinetobacter-like and Arthrobacter-like). Generation of atmospheric aerosols and remote dust deposition is a global process, largely enhanced by perturbations linked to the global change, and high mountain lakes are very convenient worldwide model systems for monitoring global-scale bacterial dispersion and pathogens entries in remote pristine environments.

High similarity between bacterioneuston and airborne bacterial community compositions in a high mountain lake area.

The bacterioneuston (bacteria inhabiting the air-water interface) is poorly characterized and possibly forms a unique community in the aquatic environment. In high mountain lakes, the surface film is subjected to extreme conditions of life, suggesting the development of a specific and adapted bacterioneuston community. We have studied the surface film of a remote high mountain lake in the Pyrenees by cloning the PCR-amplified 16S rRNA gene and comparing with bacteria present in underlying waters (UW), and airborne bacteria from the dust deposited on the top of the snow pack. We did not detect unusual taxa in the neuston but rather very common and widespread bacterial groups. Betaproteobacteria and Actinobacteria accounted for >75% of the community composition. Other minor groups were Gammaproteobacteria (between 8% and 12%), Alphaproteobacteria (between 1% and 5%), and Firmicutes (1%). However, we observed segregated populations in neuston and UW for the different clades within each of the main phylogenetic groups. The soil bacterium Acinetobacter sp. was only detected in the snow-dust sample. Overall, higher similarities were found between bacterioneuston and airborne bacteria than between the former and bacterioplankton. The surface film in high mountain lakes appears as a direct interceptor of airborne bacteria useful for monitoring long-range bacterial dispersion.

Induction of the SOS response by bacteriophage lytic development in Salmonella enterica.

Infection of Salmonella enterica with lytic mutants of either P22 or SE1 bacteriophages triggers the expression of its DNA damage-inducible SOS response through a lexA-dependent pathway. This induction of the SOS system strictly requires the presence of the bacteriophage kil gene. Accordingly, plasmid overexpression of the kil gene also promotes the S. enterica SOS network induction. Furthermore, S. enterica Gifsy prophages are induced following the infection with SE1 and P22 lytic derivatives. The observed data reveal a hitherto unknown SOS system-mediated fail-safe mechanism of resident prophages against infection with heteroimmune lytic bacteriophages and suggest a novel role for the kil family of proteins.