1887

Abstract

To investigate the role of the buoyancy provided by gas vesicles in the facultative anaerobe PHH1, the growth of a gas-vacuolate (Gv) strain in competition with two gas-vesicle-defective (Gv) mutants was examined. The Gv strain synthesized gas vesicles throughout its growth cycle, and floated up to form a thick surface scum during the exponential growth phase in static culture. Mutant Gv produced significantly fewer gas vesicles than the Gv strain in corresponding stages of growth, although in late stationary phase a small proportion of cells floated up to the surface of static cultures. Mutant Gv had a much lower gas vesicle content in shaken culture and produced negligible amounts of gas vesicles in static culture. The Gv and the two Gv strains grew equally well in shaken cultures, but in static cultures, where steep vertical gradients of oxygen concentration were established, Gv was outgrown by the Gv strain. Gv outcompeted the Gv strain in shallow static cultures, perhaps because Gv carried a smaller protein burden, which offset the benefits of buoyancy. This selection for Gv was lost in deeper static cultures, although it could be restored by aerating static cultures from below. The results support the hypothesis that the role of buoyancy in halobacteria is to maintain cells at the more aerated surface of brine pools.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journal/micro/10.1099/00221287-143-2-467
1997-02-01
2024-11-09
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

/deliver/fulltext/micro/143/2/mic-143-2-467.html?itemId=/content/journal/micro/10.1099/00221287-143-2-467&mimeType=html&fmt=ahah

References

  1. Archer D.B., King N.R. 1984; Isolation of gas vesicles from Methanosarcina barken. . J Gen Microbiol 130:167–172
    [Google Scholar]
  2. Englert C., Horne M., Pfeifer F. 1990; Expression of the major gas vesicle protein gene in the halophilic archaebacterium Haloferax mediterranei is modulated by salt.. Mol Gen Genet 222:225–232
    [Google Scholar]
  3. Englert C., Krüger K., Offner S., Pfeifer F. 1992; Three different but related gene clusters encoding gas vesicles in halophilic archaea.. J Mol Biol 227:586–592
    [Google Scholar]
  4. Gosink J.J., Staley J.T. 1995; Biodiversity of gas vacuolate bacteria from Antarctic sea ice and water.. Appl Environ Microbiol 61:3486–3489
    [Google Scholar]
  5. Hartmann R., Sickinger H.-D., Oesterhelt D. 1980; Anaerobic growth of halobacteria.. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 773821–3825
    [Google Scholar]
  6. Hayes P.K., Walsby A.E. 1986; The inverse correlation between width and strength of gas vesicles in cyanobacteria.. Br Phycol J 21:191–197
    [Google Scholar]
  7. Horne M., Pfeifer F. 1989; Expression of two gas vacuole protein genes in Halobacterium halobium and other related species.. Mol Gen Genet 218:437–444
    [Google Scholar]
  8. Koch A.L. 1983; The protein burden of lac operon products.. J Mol Evol 19:455–462
    [Google Scholar]
  9. Larsen H., Omang S., Steensland H. 1967; On the gas vacuoles of the Halobacteria.. Arch Mikrobiol 59:197–203
    [Google Scholar]
  10. Oesterhelt D., Stoeckenius W. 1973; Functions of a new photoreceptor membrane.. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 702853–2857
    [Google Scholar]
  11. Oren A. 1991; Anaerobic growth of halophilic archaeobacteria by reduction of fumarate.. J Gen Microbiol 137:1387–1390
    [Google Scholar]
  12. Petter H.F.M. 1932 Over roode en andere bakteriën gezouten visch. Doctoral thesis University of Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands:
    [Google Scholar]
  13. Pfeifer F., Weidinger G., Goebel W. 1981; Genetic variability in Halobacterium halobium. . J Bacteriol 145:375–381
    [Google Scholar]
  14. Pfeifer F., Blaseio U., Ghahraman P. 1988; Dynamic plasmid populations in Halobacterium halobium. . J Bacteriol 170:3718–3724
    [Google Scholar]
  15. Rodriguez-Valera F., Nieto J.J., Ruiz-Berraquero F. 1983; Light as an energy source in continuous cultures of bacte- riorhodopsin-containing halobacteria.. Appl Environ Microbiol 45:868–871
    [Google Scholar]
  16. Rodriguez-Valera F., Ventosa A., Juez G., Imhoff J.F. 1985; Variation of environmental features and microbial populations with salt concentrations in a multi-pond saltern.. Microb Ecol 11:107–115
    [Google Scholar]
  17. Simon R.D. 1981; Morphology and protein composition of gas vesicles from wild-type and gas vacuole defective strains of Halobacterium salinarium strain 5.. J Gen Microbiol 125:103–111
    [Google Scholar]
  18. Smith D.F. 1928; The solubility of gases in solutions.. In International Critical Tables of Numerical Data, Physics, Chem- istry and Technology pp. 271–283 Washburn E.W. Edited by New York: McGraw-Hill;
    [Google Scholar]
  19. Stoeckenius W., Kunau W.H. 1968; Further characterization of particulate fractions from lysed cell envelopes of Halobacterium halobium and isolation of gas vacuole membranes.. J Cell Biol 38:337–357
    [Google Scholar]
  20. Stoeckenius W., Wolff E.K., Hess B. 1988; A rapid population method for action spectra applied to Halobacterium halobium. . J Bacteriol 170:2790–2795
    [Google Scholar]
  21. Surek B., Pillay B., Rdest U., Beyreuther K., Goebel W. 1988; Evidence for two different gas vesicle proteins and genes in Halobacterium halobium. . J Bacteriol 70:1746–1751
    [Google Scholar]
  22. Walsby A.E. 1971; The pressure relationships of gas vacuoles.. Proc R Soc London B 178301–326
    [Google Scholar]
  23. Walsby A.E. 1973; A portable apparatus for measuring relative gas vacuolation, the strength of gas vacuoles, and turgor pressure in planktonic blue-green algae and bacteria.. Limnol Oceanogr 18:653–658
    [Google Scholar]
  24. Walsby A.E. 1976; The buoyancy-providing role of gas vacuoles in an aerobic bacterium.. Arch Microbiol 109:135–142
    [Google Scholar]
  25. Walsby A.E. 1994; Gas vesicles.. Microbiol Rev 58:94–144
    [Google Scholar]
  26. Walsby A.E., Bleything A. 1988; The dimensions of cyan- obacterial gas vesicles in relation to their efficiency in providing buoyancy and withstanding pressure.. J Gen Microbiol 134:2635–2645
    [Google Scholar]
  27. Yang C.-F., DasSarma S. 1990; Transcriptional induction of purple membrane and gas vesicle synthesis in the archaebacterium Halobacterium halobium is blocked by a DNA gyrase inhibitor.. J Bacteriol 111:4118–1121
    [Google Scholar]
/content/journal/micro/10.1099/00221287-143-2-467
Loading
/content/journal/micro/10.1099/00221287-143-2-467
Loading

Data & Media loading...

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a Success
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error