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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, August 2007, p. 4707-4716, Vol. 73, No. 15
0099-2240/07/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.00591-07
Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Phylogenetic and Metabolic Diversity of Planctomycetes from Anaerobic, Sulfide- and Sulfur-Rich Zodletone Spring, Oklahoma{triangledown}

Mostafa S. Elshahed,1* Noha H. Youssef,1 Qingwei Luo,2 Fares Z. Najar,3 Bruce A. Roe,3 Tracy M. Sisk,2 Solveig I. Bühring,4 Kai-Uwe Hinrichs,4 and Lee R. Krumholz2

Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma 74078,1 Department of Botany and Microbiology and Institute for Energy and the Environment,2 Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and the Advanced Center for Genome Technology, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma,3 Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft-Research Center Ocean Margins and Department of Geosciences, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany4

Received 14 March 2007/ Accepted 27 May 2007

We investigated the phylogenetic diversity and metabolic capabilities of members of the phylum Planctomycetes in the anaerobic, sulfide-saturated sediments of a mesophilic spring (Zodletone Spring) in southwestern Oklahoma. Culture-independent analyses of 16S rRNA gene sequences generated using Planctomycetes-biased primer pairs suggested that an extremely diverse community of Planctomycetes is present at the spring. Although sequences that are phylogenetically affiliated with cultured heterotrophic Planctomycetes were identified, the majority of the sequences belonged to several globally distributed, as-yet-uncultured Planctomycetes lineages. Using complex organic media (aqueous extracts of the spring sediments and rumen fluid), we isolated two novel strains that belonged to the Pirellula-Rhodopirellula-Blastopirellula clade within the Planctomycetes. The two strains had identical 16S rRNA gene sequences, and their closest relatives were isolates from Kiel Fjord (Germany), Keauhou Beach (HI), a marine aquarium, and tissues of marine organisms (Aplysina sp. sponges and postlarvae of the giant tiger prawn Penaeus monodon). The closest recognized cultured relative of strain Zi62 was Blastopirellula marina (93.9% sequence similarity). Detailed characterization of strain Zi62 revealed its ability to reduce elemental sulfur to sulfide under anaerobic conditions, as well as its ability to produce acids from sugars; both characteristics may potentially allow strain Zi62 to survive and grow in the anaerobic, sulfide- and sulfur-rich environment at the spring source. Overall, this work indicates that anaerobic metabolic abilities are widely distributed among all major Planctomycetes lineages and suggests carbohydrate fermentation and sulfur reduction as possible mechanisms employed by heterotrophic Planctomycetes for growth and survival under anaerobic conditions.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Oklahoma State University, 307 Life Sciences East, Stillwater, OK 74078. Phone: (405) 744-8148. Fax: (405) 744-6790. E-mail: Mostafa{at}Okstate.edu

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 1 June 2007.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, August 2007, p. 4707-4716, Vol. 73, No. 15
0099-2240/07/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.00591-07
Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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