A novel species of ellipsoidal multicellular magnetotactic prokaryotes from Lake Yuehu in China |
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| Authors: | Yi‐Ran Chen Rui Zhang Hai‐Jian Du Hong‐Miao Pan Wen‐Yan Zhang Ke Zhou Jin‐Hua Li Tian Xiao Long‐Fei Wu |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Key Laboratory of Marine Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, China;2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China;3. Laboratoire International Associé de la Bio‐Minéralisation et Nano‐Structures (LIA‐BioMNSL), CNRS, Marseille, France;4. Qingdao Agricultural University, Qingdao, China;5. Paleomagnetism and Geochronology Lab, Key Laboratory of the Earth's Deep Interior, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China;6. CNRS, LCB UMR 7257, Institut de Microbiologie de la Méditerranée, Aix Marseille Université, Marseille, France |
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| Abstract: | Two morphotypes of multicellular magnetotactic prokaryotes (MMPs) have been identified: spherical (several species) and ellipsoidal (previously one species). Here, we report novel ellipsoidal MMPs that are ～ 10 × 8 μm in size, and composed of about 86 cells arranged in six to eight interlaced circles. Each MMP was composed of cells that synthesized either bullet‐shaped magnetite magnetosomes alone, or both bullet‐shaped magnetite and rectangular greigite magnetosomes. They showed north‐seeking magnetotaxis, ping‐pong motility and negative phototaxis at a velocity up to 300 μm s?1. During reproduction, they divided along either their long‐ or short‐body axes. For genetic analysis, we sorted the ellipsoidal MMPs with micromanipulation and amplified their genomes using multiple displacement amplification. We sequenced the 16S rRNA gene and found 6.9% sequence divergence from that of ellipsoidal MMPs, Candidatus Magnetananas tsingtaoensis and > 8.3% divergence from those of spherical MMPs. Therefore, the novel MMPs belong to different species and genus compared with the currently known ellipsoidal and spherical MMPs respectively. The novel MMPs display a morphological cell differentiation, implying a potential division of labour. These findings provide new insights into the diversity of MMPs in general, and contribute to our understanding of the evolution of multicellularity among prokaryotes. |
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