Magnetotactic bacteria contain magnetosomes--intracellular, membrane-bounded, magnetic nanocrystals of magnetite (Fe(3)O(4)) or greigite (Fe(3)S(4))--that cause the bacteria to swim along geomagnetic field lines. We isolated a greigite-producing magnetotactic bacterium from a brackish spring in Death Valley National Park, California, USA, strain BW-1, that is able to biomineralize greigite and magnetite depending on culture conditions. A phylogenetic comparison of BW-1 and similar uncultured greigite- and/or magnetite-producing magnetotactic bacteria from freshwater to hypersaline habitats shows that these organisms represent a previously unknown group of sulfate-reducing bacteria in the Deltaproteobacteria. Genomic analysis of BW-1 reveals the presence of two different magnetosome gene clusters, suggesting that one may be responsible for greigite biomineralization and the other for magnetite.
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Magnetic properties of uncultivated magnetotactic bacteria and their contribution to a stratified estuary iron cycle.
Nat Commun
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Of the two nanocrystal (magnetosome) compositions biosynthesized by magnetotactic bacteria (MTB), the magnetic properties of magnetite magnetosomes have been extensively studied using widely available cultures, while those of greigite magnetosomes remain poorly known. Here we have collected uncultivated magnetite- and greigite-producing MTB to determine their magnetic coercivity distribution and ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) spectra and to assess the MTB-associated iron flux. We find that compared with magnetite-producing MTB cultures, FMR spectra of uncultivated MTB are characterized by a wider empirical parameter range, thus complicating the use of FMR for fossilized magnetosome (magnetofossil) detection.
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Science
December 2011
Laboratoire de Bioénergétique Cellulaire, UMR 6191, Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique Cadarache, Direction des Sciences du Vivant, Institut de Biologie Environnementale et Biotechnologie, Saint-Paul-lez-Durance, France.
Magnetotactic bacteria contain magnetosomes--intracellular, membrane-bounded, magnetic nanocrystals of magnetite (Fe(3)O(4)) or greigite (Fe(3)S(4))--that cause the bacteria to swim along geomagnetic field lines. We isolated a greigite-producing magnetotactic bacterium from a brackish spring in Death Valley National Park, California, USA, strain BW-1, that is able to biomineralize greigite and magnetite depending on culture conditions. A phylogenetic comparison of BW-1 and similar uncultured greigite- and/or magnetite-producing magnetotactic bacteria from freshwater to hypersaline habitats shows that these organisms represent a previously unknown group of sulfate-reducing bacteria in the Deltaproteobacteria.
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ISME J
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Instituto de Microbiologia Professor Paulo de Góes, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil.
Magnetosomes are prokaryotic organelles produced by magnetotactic bacteria that consist of nanometer-sized magnetite (Fe(3)O(4)) or/and greigite (Fe(3)S(4)) magnetic crystals enveloped by a lipid bilayer membrane. In magnetite-producing magnetotactic bacteria, proteins present in the magnetosome membrane modulate biomineralization of the magnetite crystal. In these microorganisms, genes that encode for magnetosome membrane proteins as well as genes involved in the construction of the magnetite magnetosome chain, the mam and mms genes, are organized within a genomic island.
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Environ Microbiol
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MIT-WHOI Joint Program in Oceanography, MS 52, WHOI, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA.
Magnetotactic bacteria (MTB) contain membrane-bound magnetic iron minerals and are globally abundant in the suboxic/anoxic portions of chemically stratified marine and freshwater environments. However, their population dynamics and potential quantitative contribution to the biogeochemical cycles that they influence (iron, sulfur, carbon) have not been previously considered. Here we report the first quantitative description of the distribution of individual species of magnetite- and greigite-producing MTB in a natural system.
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Geomirobiology Group, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA.
The occurrence and distribution of magnetotactic bacteria (MB) were studied as a function of the physical and chemical conditions in meromictic Salt Pond, Falmouth, Mass., throughout summer 2002. Three dominant MB morphotypes were observed to occur within the chemocline.
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