title: Cable bacteria associated with long-distance electron transport in New England salt marsh sediment.
abstract: Filamentous Desulfobulbaceae have been proposed as 'cable bacteria', which electrically couple sulfide oxidation and oxygen reduction in marine sediment and thereby create a centimetre-deep suboxic zone. We incubated New England salt marsh sediment and found long-distance electron transport across 6 mm and 16S rRNA genes identical to those of previously observed cable bacteria in Aarhus Bay sediment incubations. Cable bacteria density in sediment cores was quantified by fluorescence in situ hybridization. In contrast to the coastal, subtidal sediments with short-termed blooms of cable bacteria based on rapidly depleted iron sulfide pools, the salt marsh cable community was based on ongoing sulfate reduction and therefore probably more persistent. Previously observed seasonal correlation between Desulfobulbaceae dominance and extensive reduced sulfur oxidation in salt marshes suggest that cable bacteria at times may have an important role in situ.
authors.affiliation: Section for Microbiology & Center for Geomicrobiology, Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, DK-8000, Aarhus C, Denmark.
authors.forename: Steffen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Larsen
authors.forename: Lars Peter
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: Nielsen
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schramm
mesh_terms: D016000:Cluster Analysis; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D020564:Deltaproteobacteria / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D004579:Electron Transport; D019015:Geologic Sediments / Q000382:microbiology*; D017404:In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009511:New England; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D010802:Phylogeny; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013431:Sulfates / Q000378:metabolism; D053833:Wetlands
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; D013431:Sulfates