Matching molecular diversity and ecophysiology of benthic cyanobacteria and diatoms in communities along a salinity gradient.

The phylogenetic diversity of oxygenic phototrophic microorganisms in hypersaline microbial mats and their distribution along a salinity gradient were investigated and compared with the halotolerances of closely related cultivated strains. Segments of 16S rRNA genes from cyanobacteria and diatom plastids were retrieved from mat samples by DNA extraction and polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and subsequently analysed by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE). Sequence analyses of DNA from individual DGGE bands suggested that the majority of these organisms was related to cultivated strains at levels that had previously been demonstrated to correlate with characteristic salinity responses. Proportional abundances of amplified 16S rRNA gene segments from phylogenetic groupings of cyanobacteria and diatoms were estimated by image analysis of DGGE gels and were generally found to correspond to abundances of the respective morphotypes determined by microscopic analyses. The results indicated that diatoms accounted for low proportions of cells throughout, that the cyanobacterium Microcoleus chthonoplastes and close relatives dominated the communities up to a salinity of 11% and that, at a salinity of 14%, the most abundant cyanobacteria were related to highly halotolerant cultivated cyanobacteria, such as the recently established phylogenetic clusters of Euhalothece and Halospirulina. Although these organisms in cultures had previously demonstrated their ability to grow with close to optimal rates over a wide range of salinities, their occurrence in the field was restricted to the highest salinities investigated.

Thiomicrospira chilensis sp. nov., a mesophilic obligately chemolithoautotrophic sulfuroxidizing bacterium isolated from a Thioploca mat.

A new member of the genus Thiomicrospira, which utilizes thiosulfate as the electron donor and CO2 as the carbon source, was isolated from a sediment sample dominated by the filamentous sulfur bacterium Thioploca. Although the physiological properties investigated are nearly identical to other described species of the genus, it is proposed that strain Ch-1T is a member of a new species, Thiomicrospira chilensis sp. nov., on the basis of differences in genotypic characteristics (16S rRNA sequence, DNA homology, G + C content). Strain Ch-1T was highly motile with a slight tendency to form aggregates in the stationary growth phase. The organism was obligately autotrophic and strictly aerobic. Nitrate was not used as an electron acceptor. Chemolithoautotrophic growth was observed with thiosulfate, tetrathionate, sulfur and sulfide. The isolate was not able to grow heterotrophically. Growth of strain Ch-1T was observed between pH 5.3 and 8.5 with an optimum at pH 7.0. The temperature range for growth was between 3.5 and 42 degrees C; the optimal growth temperature was between 32 and 37 degrees C. The mean maximum growth rate on thiosulfate was 0.4 h-1. This is the second Thiomicrospira species described that has a rod-shaped morphology; therefore discrimination between vibrio-shaped Thiomicrospira and rod-shaped Thiobacilli is no longer valid.