Microbial diversity in nonsulfur, sulfur and iron geothermal steam vents
Benson CA, Bizzoco RW, Lipson DA, Kelley ST. 2011. Microbial diversity in nonsulfur, sulfur and iron geothermal steam vents. FEMS Microbiology Ecology
Fumaroles, commonly called steam vents, are ubiquitous features of geothermal habitats. Recent studies have discovered microorganisms in condensed fumarole steam, but fumarole deposits have proven refractory to DNA isolation. In this study, we report the development of novel DNA isolation approaches for fumarole deposit microbial community analysis. Deposit samples were collected from steam vents and caves in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, Yellowstone National Park and Lassen Volcanic National Park. Samples were analyzed by X-ray microanalysis and classi?ed as nonsulfur, sulfur or iron-dominated steam deposits. We experienced considerable dif?culty in obtaining high-yield, high-quality DNA for cloning: only half of all the samples ultimately yielded sequences. Analysis of archaeal 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that sulfur steam deposits were dominated by Sulfolobus and Acidianus, while nonsulfur deposits contained mainly unknown Crenarchaeota. Several of these novel Crenarchaeota lineages were related to chemoautotrophic ammonia oxidizers, indicating that fumaroles represent a putative habitat for ammonia-oxidizing Archaea. We also generated archaeal and bacterial enrichment cultures from the majority of the deposits and isolated members of the Sulfolobales. Our results provide the ?rst evidence of Archaea in geothermal steam deposits and show that fumaroles harbor diverse and novel microbial lineages
- Type
- Journal Article
- Authors
- Benson, Courtney; Bizzoco, Richard; Lipson, David; Kelley, Scott
- Units
- HAVO , LAVO , YELL
- Keywords
- 16S, Crenarchaeota, Microbial community, Phylogeny, Sulfolobus