Extremely acidic, pendulous cave wall biofilms from the Frasassi cave system, Italy

Macalady, Jennifer L.; Jones, Daniel S.; Lyon, Ezra H.

doi:10.1111/j.1462-2920.2007.01256.x

Cited by 155 publications

(130 citation statements)

References 37 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

116

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Thus, some archaeal groups in sludge, such as Thermoprotei and Thermoplasmata, may be better able to colonize onto the membrane during the initial stage of biofilm development. In previous studies, the Thermoprotei and Thermoplasmata have also been detected to form the biofilms in many different environmental sites, such as sulfide-rich cave wall (Macalady et al, 2007), acid mine drainage system (Justice et al, 2012) and wastewater pipe system (Gomez-Alvarez et al, 2012).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Characterization of the archaeal community fouling a membrane bioreactor

Luo

Zhang

Tan

et al. 2015

Journal of Environmental Sciences

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Biofilm formation, one of the primary causes of biofouling, results in reduced membrane flux or increased transmembrane pressure and thus represents a major impediment to the wider implementation of membrane bioreactor (MBR) technologies for water purification. Most studies have focused on the role of bacteria in membrane fouling as they are the most dominant and best studied organisms present in the MBR. In contrast, there is limited information on the role of the archaeal community in biofilm formation in MBRs. This study investigated the composition of the archaeal community during the process of biofouling in an MBR. The archaeal community was observed to have lower richness and diversity in the biofilm than the sludge during the establishment of biofilms at low transmembrane pressure (TMP). Clustering of the communities based on the Bray-Curtis similarity matrix indicated that a subset of the sludge archaeal community formed the initial biofilms. The archaeal community in the biofilm was mainly composed of Thermoprotei, Thermoplasmata, Thermococci, Methanopyri, Methanomicrobia and Halobacteria. Among them, the Thermoprotei and Thermoplasmata were present at higher relative proportions in the biofilms than they were in the sludge. Additionally, the Thermoprotei, Thermoplasmata and Thermococci were the dominant organisms detected in the initial biofilms at low TMP, while as the TMP increased, the Methanopyri, Methanomicrobia, Aciduliprofundum and Halobacteria were present at higher abundances in the biofilms at high TMP.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Characterization of the archaeal community fouling a membrane bioreactor

Luo

Zhang

Tan

et al. 2015

Journal of Environmental Sciences

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The presence of archaea has been previously documented in numerous terrestrial carbonate caves (Northup et al, 2003;Chelius and Moore, 2004;Gonzalez et al, 2006;Macalady et al, 2007;Legatzki et al, 2011), but their physiological role has remained elusive. This metagenomic analysis strongly suggests that Thaumarchaeota represent a second group of nitrification-based primary producers in Kartchner Caverns.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Making a living while starving in the dark: metagenomic insights into the energy dynamics of a carbonate cave

et al. 2013

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Carbonate caves represent subterranean ecosystems that are largely devoid of phototrophic primary production. In semiarid and arid regions, allochthonous organic carbon inputs entering caves with vadose-zone drip water are minimal, creating highly oligotrophic conditions; however, past research indicates that carbonate speleothem surfaces in these caves support diverse, predominantly heterotrophic prokaryotic communities. The current study applied a metagenomic approach to elucidate the community structure and potential energy dynamics of microbial communities, colonizing speleothem surfaces in Kartchner Caverns, a carbonate cave in semiarid, southeastern Arizona, USA. Manual inspection of a speleothem metagenome revealed a community genetically adapted to low-nutrient conditions with indications that a nitrogen-based primary production strategy is probable, including contributions from both Archaea and Bacteria. Genes for all six known CO 2 -fixation pathways were detected in the metagenome and RuBisCo genes representative of the Calvin-Benson-Bassham cycle were over-represented in Kartchner speleothem metagenomes relative to bulk soil, rhizosphere soil and deep-ocean communities. Intriguingly, quantitative PCR found Archaea to be significantly more abundant in the cave communities than in soils above the cave. MEtaGenome ANalyzer (MEGAN) analysis of speleothem metagenome sequence reads found Thaumarchaeota to be the third most abundant phylum in the community, and identified taxonomic associations to this phylum for indicator genes representative of multiple CO 2 -fixation pathways. The results revealed that this oligotrophic subterranean environment supports a unique chemoautotrophic microbial community with potentially novel nutrient cycling strategies. These strategies may provide key insights into other ecosystems dominated by oligotrophy, including aphotic subsurface soils or aquifers and photic systems such as arid deserts.

show abstract

“…Archaeal communities in cave systems, in general, have not been studied in detail. Macalady et al, (2007) showed that the dominant archaea in the wall biofilms from Frasassi Cave (another chemoautotrophy-based cave, but with a low pH) were associated with two groups, namely Ferroplasma and an environmental clone group with sequences from acid mine drainage and Yellowstone hot spring. No Crenarchaeota were found in Frasassi Cave.…”

Section: Sulfur/ammonia-oxidizing Bacteria In Movile Cavementioning

confidence: 99%

Life without light: microbial diversity and evidence of sulfur- and ammonium-based chemolithotrophy in Movile Cave

et al. 2009

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Microbial diversity in Movile Cave (Romania) was studied using bacterial and archaeal 16S rRNA gene sequence and functional gene analyses, including ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/ oxygenase (RuBisCO), soxB (sulfate thioesterase/thiohydrolase) and amoA (ammonia monooxygenase). Sulfur oxidizers from both Gammaproteobacteria and Betaproteobacteria were detected in 16S rRNA, soxB and RuBisCO gene libraries. DNA-based stable-isotope probing analyses using 13 C-bicarbonate showed that Thiobacillus spp. were most active in assimilating CO 2 and also implied that ammonia and nitrite oxidizers were active during incubations. Nitrosomonas spp. were detected in both 16S rRNA and amoA gene libraries from the 'heavy' DNA and sequences related to nitriteoxidizing bacteria Nitrospira and Candidatus 'Nitrotoga' were also detected in the 'heavy' DNA, which suggests that ammonia/nitrite oxidation may be another major primary production process in this unique ecosystem. A significant number of sequences associated with known methylotrophs from the Betaproteobacteria were obtained, including Methylotenera, Methylophilus and Methylovorus, supporting the view that cycling of one-carbon compounds may be an important process within Movile Cave. Other sequences detected in the bacterial 16S rRNA clone library included Verrucomicrobia, Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, alphaproteobacterial Rhodobacterales and gammaproteobacterial Xanthomonadales. Archaeal 16S rRNA sequences retrieved were restricted within two groups, namely the Deep-sea Hydrothermal Vent Euryarchaeota group and the Miscellaneous Crenarchaeotic group. No sequences related to known sulfur-oxidizing archaea, ammonia-oxidizing archaea, methanogens or anaerobic methane-oxidizing archaea were detected in this clone library. The results provided molecular biological evidence to support the hypothesis that Movile Cave is driven by chemolithoautotrophy, mainly through sulfur oxidation by sulfur-oxidizing bacteria and reveal that ammonia-and nitrite-oxidizing bacteria may also be major primary producers in Movile Cave.

show abstract

Extremely acidic, pendulous cave wall biofilms from the Frasassi cave system, Italy

Cited by 155 publications

References 37 publications

Characterization of the archaeal community fouling a membrane bioreactor

Characterization of the archaeal community fouling a membrane bioreactor

Making a living while starving in the dark: metagenomic insights into the energy dynamics of a carbonate cave

Life without light: microbial diversity and evidence of sulfur- and ammonium-based chemolithotrophy in Movile Cave

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About