Brito-Echeverría Jocelyn, López-López Arantxa, Yarza Pablo, Antón Josefa, Rosselló-Móra Ramon
Marine Microbiology Group, Institut Mediterrani d'Estudis Avançats (CSIC-UIB), 07190, Esporles, Spain.
Extremophiles. 2009 May;13(3):557-65. doi: 10.1007/s00792-009-0238-2. Epub 2009 Apr 11.
The nostrils of the seabird Calonectris diomedea are endowed with a salt-excreting gland that could produce a suitable environment for the colonization of extreme halophilic prokaryotes. We have studied in this organ the presence of extreme halophiles by means of culturing techniques. We could easily cultivate members of haloarchaea, and all cultures studied were identified as members of one of the two species Halococcus morrhuae and Hcc. dombrowskii. In order to reveal the diversity of these colonizers, we undertook a taxonomic study. Altogether, the results indicated that members of the genus Halococcus may constitute a part of the natural epizootic microbiota of C. diomedea, and that they exhibit such an important degree of taxonomic variability that appeals for a pragmatic species definition. This seabird nests in the west Mediterranean coasts, but its migratory habits, reaching locations as distant from the Mediterranean as the South Atlantic, may help in the dispersal mechanisms of haloarchaea through the Earth's surface.
海鸟白脸鸬鹚的鼻孔有一个排盐腺，该排盐腺可为极端嗜盐原核生物的定殖创造适宜的环境。我们通过培养技术研究了该器官中极端嗜盐菌的存在情况。我们能够轻松培养出嗜盐古菌的成员，所有研究的培养物都被鉴定为莫里氏嗜盐球菌和东布罗夫斯基嗜盐球菌这两个物种之一的成员。为了揭示这些定殖者的多样性，我们进行了一项分类学研究。总体而言，结果表明嗜盐球菌属的成员可能构成白脸鸬鹚自然流行微生物群的一部分，并且它们表现出如此重要程度的分类学变异性，这呼吁对物种进行务实的定义。这种海鸟在地中海西海岸筑巢，但其迁徙习性使其到达距离地中海遥远的南大西洋等地，这可能有助于嗜盐古菌在地球表面的传播机制。
