Bacterial and archaeal phylogenetic diversity of a cold sulfur-rich spring on the shoreline of Lake Erie, Michigan.

ABSTRACT: Studies of sulfidic springs have provided new insights into microbial metabolism, groundwater biogeochemistry, and geologic processes. We investigated Great Sulphur Spring on the western shore of Lake Erie and evaluated the phylogenetic affiliations of 189 bacterial and 77 archaeal 16S rRNA gene sequences from three habitats: the spring origin (11-m depth), bacterial-algal mats on the spring pond surface, and whitish filamentous materials from the spring drain. Water from the spring origin water was cold, pH 6.3, and anoxic (H(2), 5.4 nM; CH(4), 2.70 microM) with concentrations of S(2-) (0.03 mM), SO(4)(2-) (14.8 mM), Ca(2+) (15.7 mM), and HCO(3)(-) (4.1 mM) similar to those in groundwater from the local aquifer. No archaeal and few bacterial sequences were >95% similar to sequences of cul

SUBMITTER: Chaudhary A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2725501 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature