Abstract
The cyanobacterial community structure and composition of hypersaline mats were characterized in an experiment in which native salinity and sulfate levels were modified. Over the course of approximately 1 year, microbial mats collected from Guerrero Negro (Baja, California Sur, Mexico) were equilibrated to lowered salinity (to 35 p.p.t.) and lowered sulfate (below 1 mM) conditions. The structure and composition of the cyanobacterial community in the top 5 mm of these mats were examined using a multifaceted cultivation-independent molecular approach. Overall, the relative abundance of cyanobacteria—roughly 20% of the total bacterial community, as assayed with a PCR-based methodology—was not significantly affected by these manipulations. Furthermore, the mat cyanobacterial community was only modestly influenced by the dramatic changes in sulfate and salinity, and the dominant cyanobacteria were unaffected. Community composition analyses confirmed the dominant presence of the cosmopolitan cyanobacterium Microcoleus chthonoplastes, but also revealed the dominance of another Oscillatorian cyanobacterial group, also detected in other hypersaline microbial mats. Cyanobacterial populations increasing in relative abundance under the modified salinity and sulfate conditions were found to be most closely related to other hypersaline microbial mat organisms, suggesting that the development of these mats under native conditions precludes the development of organisms better suited to the less restrictive experimental conditions. These results also indicate that within a significant range of salinity and sulfate concentrations, the cyanobacterial community is remarkably stable.
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Acknowledgements
We acknowledge the Exportadora de Sal of Guerrero Negro (Baja California Sur, Mexico), for access to sites, Brad M Bebout for the development and maintenance of the microbial mat greenhouses and flow systems, Ruth Ley in providing an ARB database containing rRNA gene sequences from her study, Mary Hogan for laboratory assistance, Marilyn Vogel for assistance with statistical analyses and Erich Fleming for comments on the paper. Stefan Green was funded by a fellowship from the National Research Council and from the Oak Ridge Associated Universities postdoctoral fellowship program. Experimental operations, sequencing, molecular and technical assistance were supported by a grant to Lee Prufert-Bebout through the NASA Biomolecular Systems Research Program, and use of the molecular analysis facility was provided through Exobiology funding programs.
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Green, S., Blackford, C., Bucki, P. et al. A salinity and sulfate manipulation of hypersaline microbial mats reveals stasis in the cyanobacterial community structure. ISME J 2, 457–470 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/ismej.2008.6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ismej.2008.6
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