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Crenarchaeal heterotrophy in salt marsh sediments
Lauren M Seyler1, Lora M McGuinness1, Lee J Kerkhof1
1Institute of Marine and Coastal Science, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA.
The ISME Journal
|February 21, 2014
Summary
Salt marsh Crenarchaeota (Thaumarchaeota) are heterotrophic microbes that consume organic matter. These abundant marine organisms compete with bacteria for resources, revealing insights into microbial ecology.
Area of Science:
- Environmental microbiology
- Marine microbial ecology
- Archaea metabolism
Background:
- Mesophilic Crenarchaeota (Thaumarchaeota) are abundant in marine environments.
- Their in situ metabolic functions remain largely uncharacterized.
- Salt marshes offer a potential model system for studying these microbes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the heterotrophic capabilities of salt marsh Crenarchaeota.
- To determine their substrate preferences and growth rates in situ.
- To understand their ecological competition with other microorganisms.
Main Methods:
- Stable Isotope Probing (SIP) using various 13C-labeled substrates (acetate, glycine, urea, lipids, proteins, ISOGRO, bicarbonate).
- Incubation of salt marsh sediments at different substrate concentrations.
- Analysis of 13C-labeled DNA via terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (TRFLP) of 16S rRNA genes.
- Clone library screening of 13C-amplicons.
Main Results:
- SIP analyses confirmed heterotrophic metabolism in salt marsh Crenarchaeota.
- These organisms demonstrated growth within 2-3 days.
- Evidence suggests competition with heterotrophic bacteria for organic substrates.
- Specific Crenarchaeota groups (Miscellaneous Crenarchaeal Group, Marine Group 1.a) were identified.
- Some Crenarchaeota showed substrate specificity, while others utilized a broad range of compounds.
Conclusions:
- Salt marsh Crenarchaeota are metabolically versatile heterotrophs.
- They actively participate in carbon cycling and compete with bacteria in these ecosystems.
- Salt marshes serve as valuable environments for elucidating Crenarchaeota metabolic functions and inter-microbial competition.
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