Expansion of the geographic distribution of a novel lineage of ϵ-Proteobacteria to a hydrothermal vent site on the Southern East Pacific Rise

• Published in: FEMS microbiology ecology Vol. 35; no. 3; pp. 287 - 293
• Main Authors: Longnecker, Krista, Reysenbach, Anna-Louise
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier B.V 01-05-2001; Blackwell
• Subjects: 16S rRNA; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Biological and medical sciences; Deep-sea bacterium; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Hydrothermal vent; Marine; Microbial ecology; Pacific Ocean; Phylogeny; Proteobacteria; rRNA 16S; Various environments (extraatmospheric space, air, water); South Pacific; Pacific Ocean; ISE, East Pacific Rise; Hydrothermal vent; 16S rRNA; Proteobacteria; Deep-sea bacterium; Phylogeny; Marine environment; Geographic distribution; Ribosomal DNA; Microbial mat; 16S-RNA; Bacteria; Deep water; Biodiversity; Microbial community
• ISSN: 0168-6496; 1574-6941
• DOI: 10.1016/S0168-6496(01)00099-X

The diversity associated with a microbial mat sample collected from a deep-sea hydrothermal vent on the Southern East Pacific Rise was determined using a molecular phylogenetic approach based on the comparison of sequences from the small subunit ribosomal RNA gene (16S rDNA). The DNA was extracted from the sample and the 16S rDNA was amplified by PCR. Sixteen different phylotypes were identified by restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis; four phylotypes were later identified as putative chimeras. Analysis of the 16S rDNA sequences placed all the phylotypes within the Proteobacteria. The majority of the sequences (98%) were most closely related to a new clade of ϵ-Proteobacteria that were initially identified from an in situ growth chamber deployed on a deep-sea hydrothermal vent on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge in 1995. The similarity between phylotypes identified from Atlantic and Pacific deep-sea hydrothermal vent sites indicates that this new clade of Proteobacteria may be endemic to and widely distributed among deep-sea hydrothermal vents.