Filamentous bacteria inhabiting the sheaths of marine Thioploca spp. on the Chilean continental shelf |
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| Authors: | Andreas Teske,Bo B. Jø rgensen,& Victor A. Gallardo |
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| Affiliation: | Department of Marine Sciences, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA;;Biogeochemistry Department, Max-Planck-Institute for Marine Microbiology, Bremen, Germany;;Center for Geomicrobiology, University of Aarhus, Aarhus, Denmark;and;Department of Oceanography, University of Concepción, Concepción, Chile |
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| Abstract: | A new component of the benthic Thioploca mat microbial ecosystem on the Chilean continental shelf was detected by epifluorescence microscopy: filamentous, bacterial endobionts of 4–5-μm filament diameter and length sometimes exceeding 1 mm. These filaments were identified as growing within Thioploca sheaths located between the sediment surface and c . 5 cm depth. Their location coincided with maximal biomass and biovolume of Thioploca filaments in surficial sediments, and with maximal abundance and activity of sulfate-reducing bacterial populations near the sediment/water interface. FISH and environmental characteristics support the working hypothesis that these endobiont populations are members of the filamentous, sulfate-reducing bacterial genus Desulfonema . Found at several sampling stations over a decade-long interval (1994–2006), these populations appear to be a stable component of the Chilean Thioploca mat ecosystem. |
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| Keywords: | Thioploca Desulfonema endobionts filamentous bacteria sulfate-reducing bacteria sulfur cycle |
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