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A New Extreme Environment for Aerobic Anoxygenic Phototrophs: Biological Soil Crusts

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Book cover Recent Advances in Phototrophic Prokaryotes

Part of the book series: Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology ((AEMB,volume 675))

Abstract

Biological soil crusts improve the health of arid or semiarid soils by enhancing water content, nutrient relations and mechanical stability, facilitated largely by phototrophic microorganisms. Until recently, only oxygenic phototrophs were known from soil crusts. A recent study has demonstrated the presence of aerobic representatives of Earth’s second major photosynthetic clade, the evolutionarily basal anoxygenic phototrophs. Three Canadian soil crust communities yielded pink and orange aerobic anoxygenic phototrophic strains possessing the light-harvesting pigment bacteriochlorophyll a. At relative abundances of 0.1–5.9% of the cultivable bacterial community, they were comparable in density to aerobic phototrophs in other documented habitats. 16S rDNA sequence analysis revealed the isolates to be related to Methylobacterium, Belnapia, Muricoccus and Sphingomonas. This result adds a new type of harsh habitat, dry soil environments, to the environments known to support aerobic anoxygenic phototrophs.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by a Natural Science and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) operating grant to V.Yurkov.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Microbiology, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N2, Canada

    Julius T. Csotonyi & Vladimir Yurkov

  2. DSMZ-Deutsche Sammlung von Mikroorganismen und Zellkulturen GmbH, Mascheroder Weg 1b, 38124, Braunschweig, Germany

    Jolantha Swiderski & Erko Stackebrandt

Authors
  1. Julius T. Csotonyi
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  2. Jolantha Swiderski
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  3. Erko Stackebrandt
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  4. Vladimir Yurkov
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Vladimir Yurkov .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dépt. de microbiologie et immunologie, Université de Montréal, Montreal, H3C 3J7, Canada

    Patrick C. Hallenbeck

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Csotonyi, J.T., Swiderski, J., Stackebrandt, E., Yurkov, V. (2010). A New Extreme Environment for Aerobic Anoxygenic Phototrophs: Biological Soil Crusts. In: Hallenbeck, P. (eds) Recent Advances in Phototrophic Prokaryotes. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol 675. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1528-3_1

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