title: Bacterial and archaeal populations at two shallow hydrothermal vents off Panarea Island (Eolian Islands, Italy).
abstract: The aim of this study was to investigate the microbial community thriving at two shallow hydrothermal vents off Panarea Island (Italy). Physico-chemical characteristics of thermal waters were examined in order to establish the effect of the vents on biodiversity of both Bacteria and Archaea. Water and adjacent sediment samples were collected at different times from two vents, characterised by different depth and temperature, and analysed to evaluate total microbial abundances, sulphur-oxidising and thermophilic aerobic bacteria. Total microbial abundances were on average of the order of 10(5) cells ml(-1), expressed as picoplanktonic size fraction. Picophytoplanktonic cells accounted for 0.77-3.83% of the total picoplanktonic cells. The contribution of bacterial and archaeal taxa to prokaryotic community diversity was investigated by PCR-DGGE fingerprinting method. The number of bands derived from bacterial DNA was highest in the DGGE profiles of water sample from the warmest and deepest site (site 2). In contrast, archaeal richness was highest in the water of the coldest and shallowest site (site 1). Sulphur-oxidising bacteria were detected by both culture-dependent and -independent methods. The primary production at the shallow hydrothermal system of Panarea is supported by a complex microbial community composed by phototrophs and chemolithotrophs.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Biologia Animale ed Ecologia Marina, Università di Messina, Salita Sperone 31, 98166 Messina, Italy. tmaugeri@unime.it
authors.forename: Teresa Luciana
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Maugeri
authors.forename: Valeria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Lentini
authors.forename: Concetta
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gugliandolo
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Italiano
authors.forename: Sylvie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cousin
authors.forename: Erko
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Stackebrandt
mesh_terms: D001105:Archaea / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D001419:Bacteria / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; D007558:Italy; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D014871:Water Microbiology
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial