The effects of sulphide on growth and behaviour of the thiotrophic Zoothamnium niveum symbiosis.

ABSTRACT: Zoothamnium niveum (Ciliophora, Oligohymenophora) is a giant, colonial marine ciliate from sulphide-rich, shallow-water habitats, obligatorily associated with the ectosymbiotic, chemoautotrophic, sulphide-oxidizing bacterium 'Candidatus Thiobios zoothamnicoli'. The aims of this study were to characterize the natural habitat and investigate growth, reproduction, survival and maintenance of the symbiosis from Corsica, France (Mediterranean Sea) using a flow-through respirometer providing stable chemical conditions. We were able to successfully cultivate the Z. niveum symbiosis during its entire lifespan and document reproduction, whereby the optimum conditions were found to range from 3 to 33 micromol l(-1) sigmaH2S in normoxic seawater. Starting with an inoculum of 13 specimens, we found up

SUBMITTER: Rinke C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1950315 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature