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Diversity of Freshwater Thioploca Species and Their Specific Association with Filamentous Bacteria of the Phylum Chloroflexi

  • Environmental Microbiology
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Abstract

Phylogenetic diversity among filamentous sulfur-oxidizing bacteria of the genus Thioploca inhabiting freshwater/brackish environments was analyzed in detail. The 16S rRNA gene sequence of Thioploca found in a freshwater lake in Japan, Lake Okotanpe, was identical to that of Thioploca from Lake Ogawara, a brackish lake. The samples of the two lakes could be differentiated by the sequences of their 23S rRNA genes and 16S–23S rRNA internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions. The 23S rRNA-based phylogenetic relationships between Thioploca samples from four lakes (Lake Okotanpe, Lake Ogawara, Lake Biwa, and Lake Constance) were similar to those based on the 16S rRNA gene sequences. In addition, multiple types of the ITS sequences were obtained from Thioploca inhabiting Lake Okotanpe and Lake Constance. Variations within respective Thioploca populations were also observed in the analysis of the soxB gene, involved in sulfur oxidation. As major members of the sheath-associated microbial community, bacteria of the phylum Chloroflexi were consistently detected in the samples from different lakes. Fluorescence in situ hybridization revealed that they were filamentous and abundantly distributed within the sheaths of Thioploca.

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Acknowledgement

We thank Akifumi Ohtaka for informing us of the occurrence of Thioploca in Lake Okotanpe. We are grateful to Machiko Nishino, Kanako Ishikawa, and the crew members of Hakken-Go for their support with sampling in Lake Biwa. This study was supported by grants from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan, to Nemoto (22•56032), to Kojima (19770008) and to Fukui (22370005).

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  1. The Institute of Low Temperature Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan

    Fumiko Nemoto, Hisaya Kojima & Manabu Fukui

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  1. Fumiko Nemoto
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  2. Hisaya Kojima
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  3. Manabu Fukui
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Correspondence to Hisaya Kojima.

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Nemoto, F., Kojima, H. & Fukui, M. Diversity of Freshwater Thioploca Species and Their Specific Association with Filamentous Bacteria of the Phylum Chloroflexi . Microb Ecol 62, 753–764 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-011-9916-6

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