A Three-Component Microbial Consortium from Deep-Sea Salt-Saturated Anoxic Lake Thetis Links Anaerobic Glycine Betaine Degradation with Methanogenesis.

ABSTRACT: Microbial communities inhabiting the deep-sea salt-saturated anoxic lakes of the Eastern Mediterranean operate under harsh physical-chemical conditions that are incompatible with the lifestyle of common marine microorganisms. Here, we investigated a stable three-component microbial consortium obtained from the brine of the recently discovered deep-sea salt-saturated Lake Thetis. The trophic network of this consortium, established at salinities up to 240, relies on fermentative decomposition of common osmoprotectant glycine betaine (GB). Similarly to known extreme halophilic anaerobic GB-degrading enrichments, the initial step of GB degradation starts with its reductive cleavage to trimethylamine and acetate, carried out by the fermenting member of the Thetis enrichment, Halobacteroides lac

SUBMITTER: Cono VL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5023251 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature