First Evidence for the Presence of Iron Oxidizing Zetaproteobacteria at the Levantine Continental Margins

Rubin-Blum, Maxim and Antler, Gilad and Tsadok, Rami and Shemesh, Eli and Austin, Jr and Coleman, Dwight F. and Goodman-Tchernov, Beverly N. and Ben-Avraham, Zvi and Tchernov, Dan (2014) First Evidence for the Presence of Iron Oxidizing Zetaproteobacteria at the Levantine Continental Margins. PLoS ONE, 9 (3). e91456. ISSN 1932-6203, ESSN: 1932-6203 DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0091456

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Abstract

During the 2010–2011 E/V Nautilus exploration of the Levantine basin’s sediments at the depth of 300–1300 m, densely patched orange-yellow flocculent mats were observed at various locations along the continental margin of Israel. Cores from the mat and the control locations were collected by remotely operated vehicle system (ROV) operated by the E/V Nautilus team. Microscopic observation and phylogenetic analysis of microbial 16S and 23S rRNA gene sequences indicated the presence of zetaproteobacterial stalk forming Mariprofundus spp. – like prokaryotes in the mats. Bacterial tag-encoded FLX amplicon pyrosequencing determined that zetaproteobacterial populations were a dominant fraction of microbial community in the biofilm. We show for the first time that zetaproteobacterial may thrive at the continental margins, regardless of crustal iron supply, indicating significant fluxes of ferrous iron to the sediment-water interface. In light of this discovery, we discuss the potential bioavailability of sediment-water interface iron for organisms in the overlying water column.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	2014AREP; IA67;
Subjects:	01 - Climate Change and Earth-Ocean Atmosphere Systems
Divisions:	01 - Climate Change and Earth-Ocean Atmosphere Systems 07 - Gold Open Access
Journal or Publication Title:	PLoS ONE
Volume:	9
Page Range:	e91456
Identification Number:	10.1371/journal.pone.0091456
Depositing User:	Sarah Humbert
Date Deposited:	11 Apr 2014 16:19
Last Modified:	13 Jul 2014 17:46
URI:	http://eprints.esc.cam.ac.uk/id/eprint/3015

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