1] Division of Life Science, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Hong Kong [2].
1] Sanya Institute of Deep Sea Science and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, San Ya, Hai Nan, China [2].
Sci Rep. 2014 Jan 8;4:3587. doi: 10.1038/srep03587.
Using microscopic and molecular techniques combined with computational analysis, this study examined the structure and composition of microbial communities in biofilms that formed on different artificial substrates in a brine pool and on a seep vent of a cold seep in the Red Sea to test our hypothesis that initiation of the biofilm formation and spreading mode of microbial structures differs between the cold seep and the other aquatic environments. Biofilms on different substrates at two deployment sites differed morphologically, with the vent biofilms having higher microbial abundance and better structural features than the pool biofilms. Microbes in the pool biofilms were more taxonomically diverse and mainly composed of various sulfate-reducing bacteria whereas the vent biofilms were exclusively dominated by sulfur-oxidizing Thiomicrospira. These results suggest that the redox environments at the deployment sites might have exerted a strong selection on microbes in the biofilms at two sites whereas the types of substrates had limited effects on the biofilm development.
本研究采用微观和分子技术，并结合计算分析，考察了在红海冷泉的一个渗出喷口和一个盐水池的不同人工基质上形成的生物膜中的微生物群落的结构和组成，以检验我们的假设，即生物膜形成的启动和微生物结构的扩散模式在冷泉和其他水生环境之间存在差异。两个部署地点的不同基质上的生物膜在形态上存在差异，喷口生物膜的微生物丰度更高，结构特征更好，而池生物膜则相反。池生物膜中的微生物在分类上更加多样化，主要由各种硫酸盐还原菌组成，而喷口生物膜则完全由硫氧化的硫微菌属（Thiomicrospira）主导。这些结果表明，部署地点的氧化还原环境可能对两个地点的生物膜中的微生物产生了强烈的选择作用，而基质的类型对生物膜的发展影响有限。
