title: Sulfate-reducing prokaryotic communities in two deep hypersaline anoxic basins in the Eastern Mediterranean deep sea.
abstract: In the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, deep hypersaline anoxic basins (DHABs) and deep-sea sediment contain anoxic environments where sulfate reduction is an important microbial metabolic process. The objective of this study was to characterize the sulfate-reducing community in the brine and interface of the DHABs L'Atalante and Urania based on a phylogenetic analysis of the dissimilatory sulfite reductase gene (dsrA). Results demonstrated that the sulfate-reducing community was diverse, except for the sulfidogenic brine of the Urania basin. The similarity of the dsrA sequences between different environments was very low demonstrating that each environment had a unique sulfate-reducing community. Sequences had 67.6-93.3% similarity to dsrA sequences from GenBank database and were mostly related to the delta-proteobacteria. Each environment was dominated by a different family within the delta-proteobacteria except for the Urania interface, which was dominated by sequences related to the Gram-positive Peptococcaceae. We conclude that sulfate-reducing communities inhabiting the L'Atalante and Urania basins are highly diverse with low similarities to each other and contain a sulfate-reducing species composition that is very different from sulfate-reducing species compositions in previously studied ecosystems.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Microbial Ecology, Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Studies, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands. paul.van.der.wielen@kiwa.nl
authors.forename: Paul W J J
authors.initials: PW
authors.lastname: van der Wielen
authors.forename: Sander K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Heijs
mesh_terms: D001421:Bacteria, Anaerobic / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics; D020564:Deltaproteobacteria / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics; D008522:Mediterranean Sea; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D012623:Seawater / Q000737:chemistry / Q000382:microbiology*; D012965:Sodium Chloride / Q000737:chemistry; D016999:Sulfur-Reducing Bacteria / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D012965:Sodium Chloride