Characterization of uncultivated magnetotactic bacteria from the sediments of Yuehu Lake, China

Marine magnetotactic bacteria were collected from the intertidal sediments of Yuehu Lake (China), where their abundance reached 103–104 ind./cm3. Diverse morphotypes of magnetotactic bacteria were observed, including cocci and oval, vibrio-, spirillum-, rod-, elliptical-, handle- and bar-shaped forms. The magnetococci were the most abundant, and had flagella arranged in parallel within a bundle. The majority of magnetosomes were arranged in one, two or multiple chains, although irregular arrangements were also evident. All the results of high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) analysis show that magnetosome crystals were composed of Fe3O4, and their morphology was specific to particular cell morphotypes. By the 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, we found fourteen operational taxonomic units (OTUs) which were related to magnetotactic bacteria. Among these, thirteen belonged to the Alphaproteobacteria and one to the Gammaproteobacteria. Compared with known axenic and uncultured marine magnetotactic bacteria, the 16S rRNA gene sequences of most magnetotactic bacteria collected from the Yuehu Lake exhibited sequence identities ranging from 90.1% to 96.2% (<97%). The results indicate that microbial communities containing previously unidentified magnetotactic bacteria occur in the Yuehu Lake.

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