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Appl. Environ. Microbiol. doi:10.1128/AEM.00630-07
Copyright (c) 2007, American Society for Microbiology and/or the Listed Authors/Institutions. All Rights Reserved.

Archaeal and bacterial glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraether lipids in hot springs of Yellowstone National Park (USA)

Department of Marine Biogeochemistry & Toxicology, Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, PO Box 59, 1790 AB Den Burg, Texel, The Netherlands; Department of Biology, Portland State University, Portland, OR 97201, USA; Montana State University, Department of Land Resources and Environmental Sciences, Bozeman, Montana

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: schouten{at}nioz.nl.

	Abstract

Glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers (GDGT) are core membrane lipids originally thought to be mainly produced by (hyper-)thermophilic archaea. Environmental screening of low temperature environments showed, however, the abundant presence of structurally diverse GDGTs from both bacterial and archaeal sources. In this study we examined the occurrences and distribution of GDGTs in hot spring environments in Yellowstone National Park with high temperatures (47-83°C) and mostly neutral to alkaline pH. GDGTs with 0-4 cyclopentane moieties were dominant in all samples and are likely derived from both (hyper)thermophilic Crenarchaeota and Euryarchaeota. GDGTs with 4-8 cyclopentane moieties, likely derived from the crenarchaeotal order Sulfolobales and the euryarchaeotal order Thermoplasmatales, are usually present in much lower abundance in agreement with the relatively high pH of the hot springs. The relative abundance of cyclopentane-containing GDGTs did not correlate with in situ temperature and pH suggesting that other environmental and possibly genetic factors play a role as well. Crenarchaeol, a biomarker thought to be specific for non-thermophilic Group I Crenarchaeota, was also found in most hot springs though in relatively low concentrations, i.e. <5% of total GDGTs. Its abundance did not correlate with temperature as has been reported previously. Instead, the co-occurrence of relatively abundant non-isoprenoidal GDGTs thought to be derived from soil bacteria suggests a predominantly allochthonous source for crenarchaeol in these hot spring environments. Finally, the distribution of bacterial branched GDGTs suggests they may be derived from the geothermally heated soils surrounding the hot springs.

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