Soto-Feliciano, Kristina M.

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    The purple non-sulfur anoxyphototrophic bacteria from subtropical hypersaline microbial mats in the Cabo Rojo Salterns
    (2011) Soto-Feliciano, Kristina M.; Ríos-Velázquez, Carlos; College of Arts and Sciences - Sciences; Santos Flores, Carlos; Rodríguez Minguela, Carlos; Department of Biology; Camayd Vélez, Elvia
    Purple non-sulfur bacteria (PNSB) are a diverse group of microbes with versatile physiological traits. As part of the microbial community present in subtropical hypersaline microbial mats, they are exposed to seasonal changes, such as pluvial precipitation, as well as variable oxygen and sulfur concentrations. The main objective of this study was to isolate and characterize cultivable PNSB present in benthic and ephemeral microbial mats from two different locations in the Cabo Rojo salterns, during the rainy and dry seasons. Microbial mats were dissected in layers, and the pink layer was cultivated in solid and liquid media. After being incubated anoxyphototrophically (anaerobic in photosynthetic conditions), colonies were isolated by streaking the bloomed samples on selective marine media. The PNSB isolates were characterized using light and scanning electron microscopy. The presence of a photosynthetic apparatus was molecularly confirmed by amplification and sequencing of the pufM gene. Molecular analysis was completed with in silico and phylogenetic analyses using 16S rDNA and pufM gene sequences. During the two seasons 23 PNSB were isolated; 16 and 7 from benthic and ephemeral mats, respectively. All the isolates were gram-negative; and the morphology ranged from straight rods, vibrios, and spirals of variable sizes. Spectral analysis suggested the presence of bacteriochlorophyll a and carotenoids pigments peaks. In silico analysis confirmed the presence of pufM gene in all the amplicons. The cultivable microbial members were Rhodospirillum,Rhodobacter, Rhodothalassiumand Rhodovulum. In addition, a pufM clones library was used to describe the cultivable and uncultivable purple non-sulfur bacteria present in the mats. Based on the rarefaction curve, the PNSB in both microbial mat samples were below the diversity of PNSB, but most of the cultivable pufM sequences were represented in the clone library from both microbial mats.