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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, December 2004, p. 7487-7496, Vol. 70, No. 12
0099-2240/04/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/AEM.70.12.7487-7496.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Novel, Attached, Sulfur-Oxidizing Bacteria at Shallow Hydrothermal Vents Possess Vacuoles Not Involved in Respiratory Nitrate Accumulation

Karen M. Kalanetra, Sherry L. Huston, and Douglas C. Nelson*

Section of Microbiology, University of California, Davis, California

Received 26 April 2004/ Accepted 28 July 2004

Novel, vacuolate sulfur bacteria occur at shallow hydrothermal vents near White Point, Calif. There, these filaments are attached densely to diverse biotic and abiotic substrates and extend one to several centimeters into the surrounding environment, where they are alternately exposed to sulfidic and oxygenated seawater. Characterizations of native filaments collected from this location indicate that these filaments possess novel morphological and physiological properties compared to all other vacuolate bacteria characterized to date. Attached filaments, ranging in diameter from 4 to 100 µm or more, were composed of cylindrical cells, each containing a thin annulus of sulfur globule-filled cytoplasm surrounding a large central vacuole. A near-complete 16S rRNA gene sequence was obtained and confirmed by fluorescent in situ hybridization to be associated only with filaments having a diameter of 10 µm or more. Phylogenetic analysis indicates that these wider, attached filaments form within the gamma proteobacteria a monophyletic group that includes all previously described vacuolate sulfur bacteria (the genera Beggiatoa, Thioploca, and Thiomargarita) and no nonvacuolate genera. However, unlike for all previously described vacuolate bacteria, repeated measurements of cell lysates from samples collected over 2 years indicate that the attached White Point filaments do not store internal nitrate. It is possible that these vacuoles are involved in transient storage of oxygen or contribute to the relative buoyancy of these filaments.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Section of Microbiology, 357 Briggs Hall, University of California, Davis, CA 95616. Phone: (530) 752-6183. Fax: (530) 752-9014. E-mail: dcnelson{at}ucdavis.edu.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, December 2004, p. 7487-7496, Vol. 70, No. 12
0099-2240/04/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/AEM.70.12.7487-7496.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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