No abstract

Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) with horseradish peroxidase (HRP)-labeled oligonucleotide probes and tyramide signal amplification, also known as catalyzed reporter deposition (CARD), is currently not generally applicable to heterotrophic bacteria in marine samples. Penetration of the HRP molecule into bacterial cells requires permeabilization procedures that cause high and most probably species-selective cell loss. Here we present an improved protocol for CARD-FISH of marine planktonic and benthic microbial assemblages. After concentration of samples onto membrane filters and subsequent embedding of filters in low-gelling-point agarose, no decrease in bacterial cell numbers was observed during 90 min of lysozyme incubation (10 mg ml ؊1 at 37°C). The detection rates of coastal North Sea bacterioplankton by CARD-FISH with a general bacterial probe (EUB338-HRP) were significantly higher (mean, 94% of total cell counts; range, 85 to 100%) than that with a monolabeled probe (EUB338-mono; mean, 48%; range, 19 to 66%). Virtually no unspecific staining was observed after CARD-FISH with an antisense EUB338-HRP. Members of the marine SAR86 clade were undetectable by FISH with a monolabeled probe; however, a substantial population was visualized by CARD-FISH (mean, 7%; range, 3 to 13%). Detection rates of EUB338-HRP in Wadden Sea sediments (mean, 81%; range, 53 to 100%) were almost twice as high as the detection rates of EUB338-mono (mean, 44%; range, 25 to 71%). The enhanced fluorescence intensities and signal-to-background ratios make CARD-FISH superior to FISH with directly labeled oligonucleotides for the staining of bacteria with low rRNA content in the marine environment.

In a search for cosmopolitan phylogenetic clusters of freshwater bacteria, we recovered a total of 190 full and partial 16S ribosomal DNA (rDNA) sequences from three different lakes (Lake Gossenköllesee, Austria; Lake Fuchskuhle, Germany; and Lake Baikal, Russia). The phylogenetic comparison with the currently available rDNA data set showed that our sequences fall into 16 clusters, which otherwise include bacterial rDNA sequences of primarily freshwater and soil, but not marine, origin. Six of the clusters were affiliated with the ␣, four were affiliated with the ␤, and one was affiliated with the ␥ subclass of the Proteobacteria; four were affiliated with the Cytophaga-Flavobacterium-Bacteroides group; and one was affiliated with the class Actinobacteria (formerly known as the high-G؉C gram-positive bacteria). The latter cluster (hgcI) is monophyletic and so far includes only sequences directly retrieved from aquatic environments. Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) with probes specific for the hgcI cluster showed abundances of up to 1.7 ؋ 10 5 cells ml ؊1 in Lake Gossenköllesee, with strong seasonal fluctuations, and high abundances in the two other lakes investigated. Cell size measurements revealed that Actinobacteria in Lake Gossenköllesee can account for up to 63% of the bacterioplankton biomass. A combination of phylogenetic analysis and FISH was used to reveal 16 globally distributed sequence clusters and to confirm the broad distribution, abundance, and high biomass of members of the class Actinobacteria in freshwater ecosystems.

Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) in combination with polynucleotide probes revealed that the two major groups of planktonic Archaea (Crenarchaeota and Euryarchaeota) exhibit a different distribution pattern in the water column of the Pacific subtropical gyre and in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current system. While Euryarchaeota were found to be more dominant in nearsurface waters, Crenarchaeota were relatively more abundant in the mesopelagic and bathypelagic waters. We determined the abundance of archaea in the mesopelagic and bathypelagic North Atlantic along a south-north transect of more than 4,000 km. Using an improved catalyzed reporter deposition-FISH (CARD-FISH) method and specific oligonucleotide probes, we found that archaea were consistently more abundant than bacteria below a 100-m depth. Combining microautoradiography with CARD-FISH revealed a high fraction of metabolically active cells in the deep ocean. Even at a 3,000-m depth, about 16% of the bacteria were taking up leucine. The percentage of Euryarchaeota and Crenarchaeaota taking up leucine did not follow a specific trend, with depths ranging from 6 to 35% and 3 to 18%, respectively. The fraction of Crenarchaeota taking up inorganic carbon increased with depth, while Euryarchaeota taking up inorganic carbon decreased from 200 m to 3,000 m in depth. The ability of archaea to take up inorganic carbon was used as a proxy to estimate archaeal cell production and to compare this archaeal production with total prokaryotic production measured via leucine incorporation. We estimate that archaeal production in the mesopelagic and bathypelagic North Atlantic contributes between 13 to 27% to the total prokaryotic production in the oxygen minimum layer and 41 to 84% in the Labrador Sea Water, declining to 10 to 20% in the North Atlantic Deep Water. Thus, planktonic archaea are actively growing in the dark ocean although at lower growth rates than bacteria and might play a significant role in the oceanic carbon cycle.

The recently developed CARD-FISH protocol was refined for the detection of marine Archaea by replacing the lysozyme permeabilization treatment with proteinase K. This modification resulted in about twofold-higher detection rates for Archaea in deep waters. Using this method in combination with microautoradiography, we found that Archaea are more abundant than Bacteria (42% versus 32% of 4,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole counts) in the deep waters of the North Atlantic and that a larger fraction of Archaea than of Bacteria takes up L-aspartic acid (19% versus 10%).