Sulfate-reducing bacteria in tubes constructed by the marine infaunal polychaete Diopatra cuprea

Marine infaunal burrows and tubes greatly enhance solute transport between sediments and the overlying water column and are sites of elevated microbial activity. Biotic and abiotic controls of the compositions and activities of burrow and tube microbial communities are poorly understood. The microbial communities in tubes of the marine infaunal polychaete Diopatria cuprea collected from two different sediment habitats were examined. The bacterial communities in the tubes from a sandy sediment differed from those in the tubes from a muddy sediment. The difference in community structure also extended to the sulfate-reducing bacterial (SRB) assemblage, although it was not as pronounced for this functional group of species. PCR-amplified 16S rRNA gene sequences recovered from Diopatra tube SRB by clonal library construction and screening were all related to the family Desulfobacteriaceae. This finding was supported by phospholipid fatty acid analysis and by hybridization of 16S rRNA probes specific for members of the genera Desulfosarcina, Desulfobacter, Desulfobacterium, Desulfobotulus, Desulfococcus, and Desulfovibrio and some members of the genera Desulfomonas, Desulfuromonas, and Desulfomicrobium with 16S rRNA gene sequences resolved by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis. Two of six SRB clones from the clone library were not detected in tubes from the sandy sediment. The habitat in which the D. cuprea tubes were constructed had a strong influence on the tube bacterial community as a whole, as well as on the SRB assemblage.