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Bacterial diversity of the outflows of a Polichnitos (Lesvos, Greece) hot spring, laboratory studies of a Cyanobacterium sp. strain and potential medical applications

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Abstract

The bacterial diversity of the outflows of Polichnitos (Lesvos, Greece) hot spring has been investigated. Cyanobacteria showing high sequence homologies with Phormidium sp. and Cyanobacterium aponinum were found. Members of the Alphaproteobacteria closely related to Rhodobium sp. Albidovulum sp., Rhodobacter sp., Microvigra sp., Nitratireductor sp. and Phaeobacter sp. Gammaproteobacteria, Betaproteobacteria and Firmicutes were represented by members of Idiomarina sp., Marinobacter sp., Shinella sp., Bacillus sp. and Clostridium sp. with sequence homologies ranging from 92% to 100%. Members of the Bacteroidetes and Planctomycetes were represented by sequences of novel phylogenetic linkages exhibiting 87–90% sequence homology with type strains. When the hot spring consortium was cultivated in bioreactor repeated batch culture under photo-autotrophic growth conditions at temperature < 30 °C, Cyanobacterium sp. dominated over Phormidium sp. Cyanobacterium sp. seems to have biotechnological potential since its extracellular broth exhibited a strong insecticidal activity against larvae of Aedes aegypti (a vector of important human diseases) and significant anti-cancer activity against the PC3 human prostate cancer cell line, while its toxicity against human endothelial cells was relatively low.

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Acknowledgments

This project was funded by the Deanship of Scientific Research, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia under grant No. 11-130-35-HiCi. We thank Zissis Aggelides for kindly provided data on the Polichnitos hot spring water chemical composition.

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Correspondence to George Aggelis.

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Fig. S1

Map of part of Greece showing a Lesvos Island located at the volcanic region of North Aegean and b Lesvos Island details. The star shows the Polichnitos hot springs. Source GEODATA.gov.gr, modified. Credit to ©OpenStreetMap contributors. (GIF 485 kb)

High resolution image (TIFF 2032 kb)

Fig. S2a,b

One of the outflows of Polichnitos hot spring chosen for sampling. a Polichnitos hot springs are considered to be among the hottest in Europe and worldwide. b The water temperature of the selected hot spring at the time of sampling was around 80 °C. (GIF 2042 kb)

High resolution image (TIFF 6722 kb)

Fig. S3

Photobioreactor cultures of Cyanobacterium sp. The strain was cultivated in repeated batch cultivation mode. Agitation was kept constant at 200 rpm; air supplied at 1.5 vvm; light illumination (480 μE m−2 s−1) was provided by 8 W fluorescent lambs. (GIF 750 kb)

High resolution image (TIFF 2788 kb)

Fig. S4:

Toxicity of Cyanobacterium sp. extracellular broth against HUVEC cell line, using the MTT assay. (GIF 32 kb)

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Mizerakis, P., Stathopoulou, P., Tsiamis, G. et al. Bacterial diversity of the outflows of a Polichnitos (Lesvos, Greece) hot spring, laboratory studies of a Cyanobacterium sp. strain and potential medical applications. Ann Microbiol 67, 643–654 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13213-017-1293-z

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