New insights into the lifestyle of the cold-loving SM1 euryarchaeon: Natural growth as a monospecies biofilm in the subsurface

In the surface waters of sulfidic springs near Regensburg, Bavaria, Germany, the SM1 euryarchaeon, together with filamentous bacteria, forms the recently described unique string-of-pearls community. In addition to naturally occurring string-of-pearls communities, the growth of these communities was also observed on polyethylene nets provided as an artificial attachment material in the streamlets of springs. In order to learn more about the distribution and origin of the SM1 euryarchaeon and its possible occurrence in the subsurface, polyethylene nets were incubated as deeply as possible in different spring holes. After a short residence time, slime-like, milky drops, almost completely composed of SM1 euryarchaeon, were attached to the nets, indicating that this organism grows independent of a partner in deeper earth layers. A newly designed in situ biofilm trapping system allowed the quantitative harvesting of organisms exhibiting this newly discovered lifestyle of the SM1 euryarchaeon for detailed biological studies. The discovery of naturally occurring archaeal biofilms extends our knowledge of the biology and ecological significance of archaea in their environments.