Persistent flocks of diverse motile bacteria in long-term incubations of electron-conducting cable bacteria, Candidatus Electronema aureum.

ABSTRACT: Cable bacteria are centimeters-long filamentous bacteria that oxidize sulfide in anoxic sediment layers and reduce oxygen at the oxic-anoxic interface, connecting these reactions via electron transport. The ubiquitous cable bacteria have a major impact on sediment geochemistry and microbial communities. This includes diverse bacteria swimming around cable bacteria as dense flocks in the anoxic zone, where the cable bacteria act as chemotactic attractant. We hypothesized that flocking only appears when cable bacteria are highly abundant and active. We set out to discern the timing and drivers of flocking over 81 days in an enrichment culture of the freshwater cable bacterium Candidatus Electronema aureum GS by measuring sediment microprofiles of pH, oxygen, and electric potent

SUBMITTER: Lustermans JJM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9998039 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature