Microbial eukaryotes in the suboxic chemosynthetic ecosystem of Movile Cave, Romania.

ABSTRACT: Movile Cave is a small system of partially inundated galleries in limestone settings close to the Black Sea in Southeast Romania. Isolated from the surface for 6 million years, its sulfidic, methane and ammonia-rich waters harbour unique chemosynthetic prokaryotic communities that include sulphur and ammonium-metabolizing chemolithotrophs, methanogens, methanotrophs and methylotrophs. The cave also harbours cave-dwelling invertebrates and fungi, but the diversity of other microbial eukaryotes remained completely unknown. Here, we apply an 18S rRNA gene-based metabarcoding approach to study the composition of protist communities in floating microbial mats and plankton from a well-preserved oxygen-depleted cave chamber. Our results reveal a wide protist diversity with, as dominant groups, ci

SUBMITTER: Reboul G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6697535 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature