Rapid redox signal transmission by "Cable Bacteria" beneath a photosynthetic biofilm.

ABSTRACT: Recently, long filamentous bacteria, belonging to the family Desulfobulbaceae, were shown to induce electrical currents over long distances in the surface layer of marine sediments. These "cable bacteria" are capable of harvesting electrons from free sulfide in deeper sediment horizons and transferring these electrons along their longitudinal axes to oxygen present near the sediment-water interface. In the present work, we investigated the relationship between cable bacteria and a photosynthetic algal biofilm. In a first experiment, we investigated sediment that hosted both cable bacteria and a photosynthetic biofilm and tested the effect of an imposed diel light-dark cycle by continuously monitoring sulfide at depth. Changes in photosynthesis at the sediment surface had an immediate and r

SUBMITTER: Malkin SY 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4292484 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature