Combined response of polar magnetotaxis to oxygen and pH: Insights from hanging drop assays and microcosm experiments.

ABSTRACT: Magnetotactic bacteria (MTB) combine passive alignment with the Earth magnetic field with a chemotactic response (magneto-chemotaxis) to reach their optimal living depth in chemically stratified environments. Current magneto-aerotaxis models fail to explain the occurrence of MTB far below the oxic-anoxic interface and the coexistence of MTB cells with opposite magnetotactic polarity at depths that are unrelated with the redox gradient. Here we propose a modified model of polar magnetotaxis which explains these observations, as well as the distinct concentration profiles and magnetotactic advantages of two types of MTB inhabiting a freshwater sediment: a group of unidentified cocci (MC), and a giant rod-shaped bacterium (MB) apparently identical to M. bavaricum (MB). This model assumed that

SUBMITTER: Mao X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11550849 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature