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Journal of Oceanology and Limnology

, Volume 36, Issue 3, pp 783–794 | Cite as

Characterization of dominant giant rod-shaped magnetotactic bacteria from a low tide zone of the China Sea

  • Zhaojie Teng (滕兆洁)
  • Wenyan Zhang (张文燕)
  • Yiran Chen (陈一然)
  • Hongmiao Pan (潘红苗)
  • Tian Xiao (肖天)
  • Long-Fei Wu (吴龙飞)
Article
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Abstract

Magnetotactic bacteria are a group of Gram-negative bacteria that synthesize magnetic crystals, enabling them to navigate in relation to magnetic field lines. Morphologies of magnetotactic bacteria include spirillum, coccoid, rod, vibrio, and multicellular morphotypes. The coccid shape is generally the most abundant morphotype among magnetotactic bacteria. Here we describe a species of giant rod-shaped magnetotactic bacteria (designated QR-1) collected from sediment in the low tide zone of Huiquan Bay (Yellow Sea, China). This morphotype accounted for 90% of the magnetotactic bacteria collected, and the only taxonomic group which was detected in the sampling site. Microscopy analysis revealed that QR-1 cells averaged (6.71±1.03)×(1.54±0.20) μm in size, and contained in each cell 42–146 magnetosomes that are arranged in a bundle formed one to four chains along the long axis of the cell. The QR-1 cells displayed axial magnetotaxis with an average velocity of 70±28 μm/s. Transmission electron microscopy based analysis showed that QR-1 cells had two tufts of flagella at each end. Phylogenetic analysis of the 16S rRNA genes revealed that QR-1 together with three other rod-shaped uncultivated magnetotactic bacteria are clustered into a deep branch of Alphaproteobacteria.

Keyword

Alphaproteobacteria flagella motility rod-shaped magnetotactic bacteria 
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Notes

Acknowledgement

We thank XU Jianhong for his assistance with biological sampling, JIANG Ming, LIU Jing, and MA Xicheng for their assistance with the TEM analysis, and LIU Wei for supporting our SEM observations.

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Copyright information

© Chinese Society for Oceanology and Limnology, Science Press and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2018

Authors and Affiliations

  • Zhaojie Teng (滕兆洁)
    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
  • Wenyan Zhang (张文燕)
    • 1
    • 3
  • Yiran Chen (陈一然)
    • 1
    • 3
  • Hongmiao Pan (潘红苗)
    • 1
    • 3
  • Tian Xiao (肖天)
    • 1
    • 3
  • Long-Fei Wu (吴龙飞)
    • 4
    • 5
  1. 1.CAS Key Laboratory of Marine Ecology & Environmental Sciences, Institute of OceanologyChinese Academy of SciencesQingdaoChina
  2. 2.University of Chinese Academy of SciencesBeijingChina
  3. 3.Laboratory of Marine Ecology and Environmental ScienceQingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and TechnologyQingdaoChina
  4. 4.Laboratoire de Chimie Bactérienne, UMR7283, Institut de Microbiologie de la MéditerranéeAix-Marseille Université, CNRSMarseilleFrance
  5. 5.Laboratoire International Associé de la Bio-Minéralisation et Nano-Structures, CNRSMarseilleFrance

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