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Surprising abundance of Gallionella-related iron oxidizers in creek sediments at pH 4.4 or at high heavy metal concentrations

Overview of attention for article published in Frontiers in Microbiology, January 2013
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Title
Surprising abundance of Gallionella-related iron oxidizers in creek sediments at pH 4.4 or at high heavy metal concentrations
Published in
Frontiers in Microbiology, January 2013
DOI 10.3389/fmicb.2013.00390
Pubmed ID
Authors

Maria Fabisch, Felix Beulig, Denise M. Akob, Kirsten Küsel

Abstract

We identified and quantified abundant iron-oxidizing bacteria (FeOB) at three iron-rich, metal-contaminated creek sites with increasing sediment pH from extremely acidic (R1, pH 2.7), to moderately acidic (R2, pH 4.4), to slightly acidic (R3, pH 6.3) in a former uranium-mining district. The geochemical parameters showed little variations over the 1.5 year study period. The highest metal concentrations found in creek sediments always coincided with the lowest metal concentrations in creek water at the slightly acidic site R3. Sequential extractions of R3 sediment revealed large portions of heavy metals (Ni, Cu, Zn, Pb, U) bound to the iron oxide fraction. Light microscopy of glass slides exposed in creeks detected twisted stalks characteristic of microaerobic FeOB of the family Gallionellaceae at R3 but also at the acidic site R2. Sequences related to FeOB such as Gallionella ferruginea, Sideroxydans sp. CL21, Ferritrophicum radicicola, and Acidovorax sp. BrG1 were identified in the sediments. The highest fraction of clone sequences similar to the acidophilic "Ferrovum myxofaciens" was detected in R1. Quantitative PCR using primer sets specific for Gallionella spp., Sideroxydans spp., and "Ferrovum myxofaciens" revealed that ~72% (R2 sediment) and 37% (R3 sediment) of total bacterial 16S rRNA gene copies could be assigned to groups of FeOB with dominance of microaerobic Gallionella spp. at both sites. Gallionella spp. had similar and very high absolute and relative gene copy numbers in both sediment communities. Thus, Gallionella-like organisms appear to exhibit a greater acid and metal tolerance than shown before. Microaerobic FeOB from R3 creek sediment enriched in newly developed metal gradient tubes tolerated metal concentrations of 35 mM Co, 24 mM Ni, and 1.3 mM Cd, higher than those in sediments. Our results will extend the limited knowledge of FeOB at contaminated, moderately to slightly acidic environments.

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Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 89 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
United States 1 1%
Netherlands 1 1%
Germany 1 1%
Unknown 86 97%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Ph. D. Student 27 30%
Researcher 16 18%
Student > Master 11 12%
Student > Bachelor 9 10%
Student > Doctoral Student 7 8%
Other 7 8%
Unknown 12 13%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 28 31%
Environmental Science 19 21%
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 9 10%
Earth and Planetary Sciences 8 9%
Engineering 3 3%
Other 5 6%
Unknown 17 19%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 1. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 18 December 2013.
All research outputs
#20,213,623
of 22,736,112 outputs
Outputs from Frontiers in Microbiology
#22,186
of 24,598 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#248,822
of 280,808 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Frontiers in Microbiology
#264
of 407 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 22,736,112 research outputs across all sources so far. This one is in the 1st percentile – i.e., 1% of other outputs scored the same or lower than it.
So far Altmetric has tracked 24,598 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a little more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 6.3. This one is in the 1st percentile – i.e., 1% of its peers scored the same or lower than it.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 280,808 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one is in the 1st percentile – i.e., 1% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.
We're also able to compare this research output to 407 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one is in the 1st percentile – i.e., 1% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.