Microbial life on a sand grain: from bulk sediment to single grains.

ABSTRACT: Globally, marine surface sediments constitute a habitat for estimated 1.7 × 10²⁸ prokaryotes. For benthic microbial community analysis, usually, several grams of sediment are processed. In this study, we made the step from bulk sediments to single sand grains to address the microbial community directly in its micro-habitat: the individual bacterial diversity on 17 sand grains was analyzed by 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequencing and visualized on sand grains using catalyzed reporter deposition fluorescence in situ hybridization. In all, 10⁴-10⁵ cells were present on grains from 202 to 635 μm diameter. Colonization was patchy, with exposed areas largely devoid of any epi-growth (mean cell-cell distance 4.5±5.9 μm) and protected areas more densely populated (0.5±

SUBMITTER: Probandt D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5776476 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature