Journal
ISME JOURNAL
Volume 5, Issue 12, Pages 1926-1935Publisher
NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
DOI: 10.1038/ismej.2011.66
Keywords
Beggiatoa; budding; epibiont; sulfur bacteria; Thiomargarita; Thioploca
Categories
Funding
- Agouron Institute
- University of Minnesota Department of Geology and Geophysics
- Max Planck Society
- National Science Foundation [OCE-0826254, OCE 09-39557]
- Directorate For Geosciences
- Division Of Ocean Sciences [0939559] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
- Directorate For Geosciences
- Division Of Ocean Sciences [0825791, 0826254] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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We present evidence for a dimorphic life cycle in the vacuolate sulfide-oxidizing bacteria that appears to involve the attachment of a spherical Thiomargarita-like cell to the exteriors of invertebrate integuments and other benthic substrates at methane seeps. The attached cell elongates to produce a stalk-like form before budding off spherical daughter cells resembling free-living Thiomargarita that are abundant in surrounding sulfidic seep sediments. The relationship between the attached parent cell and free-living daughter cell is reminiscent of the dimorphic life modes of the prosthecate Alphaproteobacteria, but on a grand scale, with individual elongate cells reaching nearly a millimeter in length. Abundant growth of attached Thiomargarita-like bacteria on the integuments of gastropods and other seep fauna provides not only a novel ecological niche for these giant bacteria, but also for animals that may benefit from epibiont colonization. The ISME Journal (2011) 5, 1926-1935; doi: 10.1038/ismej.2011.66; published online 23 June 2011
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