Microbial colonization on new terrestrial substrates represents the initiation of new soil ecosystem formation. In this study, we analyzed early bacterial communities growing on volcanic ash deposits derived from the 2000 Mount Oyama eruption on the island of Miyake (Miyake-jima), Japan. A site was established in an unvegetated area near the summit and investigated over a 6-year period from 200...

Zetaproteobacteria are among the most prevalent Fe(II)-oxidizing bacteria (FeOB) at deep-sea hydrothermal vents; however, knowledge about their environmental significance is limited. We provide metagenomic insights into an iron mat at the Lō´ihi Seamount, Hawai´l, revealing novel genomic information of locally dominant Zetaproteobacteria lineages. These lineages were previously estimated to acc...

Bacterial species concepts are controversial. More widely accepted is the need to understand how differences in gene content and sequence lead to ecological divergence. To address this relationship in ecosystem context, we investigated links between genotype and ecology of two genotypic groups of Leptospirillum group II bacteria in comprehensively characterized, natural acidophilic biofilm comm...

Insertion sequences (ISs) are ubiquitous and abundant mobile genetic elements in prokaryotic genomes. ISs often encode only one protein, the transposase, which catalyzes their transposition. Recent studies have shown that transposases of many different IS families interact with the β sliding clamp, a DNA replication factor of the host. However, it was unclear to what extent this interaction lim...

The response of iron-oxidizing Leptospirillum ferriphilum YSK and sulfur-oxidizing Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans A01 to arsenite under pure culture and coculture was investigated based on biochemical characterization (concentration of iron ion and pH value) and related gene expression. L. ferriphilum YSK and At. thiooxidans A01 in pure culture could adapt up to 400 mM and 800 mM As(III) after d...

The Iberian Pyrite Belt, located in Southwestern Spain, represents one of the world's largest accumulations of mine wastes and acid mine drainages. This study reports the comparative microbial ecology of the water column of Nuestra Señora del Carmen acid pit lake with the extreme acidic Río Tinto basin. The canonical correspondence analysis identified members of the Leptospirillum, Acidiphilium...

A legacy of coal mining in the Appalachians has provided a unique opportunity to study the ecological niches of iron-oxidizing microorganisms. Mine-impacted, anoxic groundwater with high dissolved-metal concentrations emerges at springs and seeps associated with iron oxide mounds and deposits. These deposits are colonized by iron-oxidizing microorganisms that in some cases efficiently remove mo...

Cultivation-based and molecular approaches were used to characterize the phylogenetic composition and structure of the microbial community in an extremely acidic (pH 2.0) acid mine drainage (AMD) associated with Pb/Zn mine tailings that were undergoing vigorous acid generation. Acidophilic bacteria were isolated and enumerated on solid media, and were found to be restricted to isolates related ...

A heterotrophic bacterium, isolated from an acidic stream in a disused pyrite mine which contained copious growths of "acid streamers," displayed characteristics which differentiated it from previously described mesophilic acidophiles. The isolate was obligately acidophilic, with a pH range of 2.0 to 4.4 and an optimum pH of 3.0. The bacterium was unable to fix carbon dioxide but oxidized ferro...