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Appl. Environ. Microbiol. doi:10.1128/AEM.00393-07
Copyright (c) 2007, American Society for Microbiology and/or the Listed Authors/Institutions. All Rights Reserved.

Microbial Community Biofabrics in a Geothermal Mine Adit

Division of Environmental Science and Engineering, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO 80401, Department of Biological Sciences, Northern Kentucky University, SC 204D Nunn Drive, Highland Heights, KY, Department MCD-Biology, 347 UCB, University of Colorado, Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309, Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: nrpace{at}colorado.edu.

	Abstract

Speleothems such as stalactites and stalagmites are usually considered to be mineralogic in composition and origin; however, microorganisms have been implicated in the development of some speleothems. We have identified and characterized the biological and mineralogical composition of mat-like biofabrics in two novel kinds of speleothems from a 50°C geothermal mine adit near Glenwood Springs, Colorado. One type of structure consists of 2-3 cm long, 3-4 mm wide, leather-like, hollow, soda-straw stalactites. Light and electron microscopy indicated the stalactites are composed of a mineralized biofabric with several cell morphotypes in a laminated form, with gypsum and sulfur as the dominant mineral component. A small subunit rRNA gene phylogenetic community analysis along the stalactite length yielded a diverse gradient of organisms, with a relatively simple suite of main constituents: Thermus spp., crenarchaeotes, Chloroflexi and -Proteobacteria. PCR analysis also detected putative crenarchaeal ammonia monooxygenase subunit A (amoA) genes in this community, the majority related to sequences from other geothermal systems. The second type of speleothem, dumpling-like rafts floating on a 50°C pool on the floor of the adit, showed a mat-like fabric of evidently living organisms on the outside of the dumpling, with a multi-mineral, amorphous gypsum-based internal composition. These two novel types of biofabrics are examples of the complex roles that microbes can play in mineralization, weathering and deposition processes in karst environments.

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