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Distribution and diversity of sulfur-oxidizing Thiomicrospira spp. at a shallow-water hydrothermal vent in the Aegean Sea (Milos, Greece).

ABSTRACT: A shallow-water hydrothermal vent system in the Aegean Sea close to the island of Milos (Greece) was chosen to study the diversity and distribution of the chemolithoautotrophic sulfur-oxidizing bacterium Thiomicrospira. Cell numbers in samples from different regions around a solitary vent decreased toward the center of the vent (horizontal distribution), as well as with depth (vertical distribution), corresponding to an increase in temperature (from ca. 25 to 60 degrees C) and a decrease in pH (from ca. pH 7 to 5). Thiomicrospira was one of the most abundant culturable sulfur oxidizers and was even dominant in one region. Phylogenetic analysis of Thiomicrospira spp. present in the highest most-probable-number (MPN) dilutions revealed that most of the obtained sequences grouped in two new closely related clusters within the Thiomicrospira branch. Two different new isolates, i.e., Milos-T1 and Milos-T2, were obtained from high-dilution (10(-5)) enrichments. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that isolate Milos-T1 is related to the recently described Thiomicrospira kuenenii and Hydrogenovibrio marinus, whereas isolate Milos-T2 grouped with the MPN sequences of cluster 2. The predominance of strain Milos-T2 was indicated by its identification in several environmental samples by hybridization analysis of denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) patterns and by sequencing of one of the corresponding bands, i.e., ML-1, from the DGGE gel. The results shown in this paper support earlier indications that Thiomicrospira species are important members of hydrothermal vent communities.

SUBMITTER: Brinkhoff T

PROVIDER: S-EPMC99709 | biostudies-literature | 1999 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Distribution and diversity of sulfur-oxidizing Thiomicrospira spp. at a shallow-water hydrothermal vent in the Aegean Sea (Milos, Greece).

Brinkhoff T T Sievert S M SM Kuever J J Muyzer G G

Applied and environmental microbiology 19990901 9

A shallow-water hydrothermal vent system in the Aegean Sea close to the island of Milos (Greece) was chosen to study the diversity and distribution of the chemolithoautotrophic sulfur-oxidizing bacterium Thiomicrospira. Cell numbers in samples from different regions around a solitary vent decreased toward the center of the vent (horizontal distribution), as well as with depth (vertical distribution), corresponding to an increase in temperature (from ca. 25 to 60 degrees C) and a decrease in pH ( ...[more]

PMID: 10473384

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Project description:Shallow-sea hydrothermal systems, like their deep-sea and terrestrial counterparts, can serve as relatively accessible portals into the microbial ecology of subsurface environments. In this study, we determined the chemical composition of 47 sediment porewater samples along a transect from a diffuse shallow-sea hydrothermal vent to a non-thermal background area in Paleochori Bay, Milos Island, Greece. These geochemical data were combined with thermodynamic calculations to quantify potential sources of energy that may support in situ chemolithotrophy. The Gibbs energies (?Gr) of 730 redox reactions involving 23 inorganic H-, O-, C-, N-, S-, Fe-, Mn-, and As-bearing compounds were calculated. Of these reactions, 379 were exergonic at one or more sampling locations. The greatest energy yields were from anaerobic CO oxidation with NO2- (-136 to -162 kJ/mol e-), followed by reactions in which the electron acceptor/donor pairs were O2/CO, NO3-/CO, and NO2-/H2S. When expressed as energy densities (where the concentration of the limiting reactant is taken into account), a different set of redox reactions are the most exergonic: in sediments affected by hydrothermal input, sulfide oxidation with a range of electron acceptors or nitrite reduction with different electron donors provide 85~245 J per kg of sediment, whereas in sediments less affected or unaffected by hydrothermal input, various S0 oxidation reactions and aerobic respiration reactions with several different electron donors are most energy-yielding (80~95 J per kg of sediment). A model that considers seawater mixing with hydrothermal fluids revealed that there is up to ~50 times more energy available for microorganisms that can use S0 or H2S as electron donors and NO2- or O2 as electron acceptors compared to other reactions. In addition to revealing likely metabolic pathways in the near-surface and subsurface mixing zones, thermodynamic calculations like these can help guide novel microbial cultivation efforts to isolate new species.

Dataset Information

Distribution and diversity of sulfur-oxidizing Thiomicrospira spp. at a shallow-water hydrothermal vent in the Aegean Sea (Milos, Greece).

Publications

Distribution and diversity of sulfur-oxidizing Thiomicrospira spp. at a shallow-water hydrothermal vent in the Aegean Sea (Milos, Greece).

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