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Gammaproteobacterial sulfur oxidizers (GSOs), particularly SUP05-related sequences, have been found worldwide in numerous oxygen-deficient marine environments. However, knowledge regarding their abundance, distribution, and ecological role is scarce. In this study, on the basis of phylogenetic analyses of 16S rRNA gene sequences originating from a Baltic Sea pelagic redoxcline, the in situ abundances of different GSO subgroups were quantified by CARD-FISH (catalyzed reporter fluorescence in situ hybridization) with oligonucleotide probes developed specifically for this purpose. Additionally, ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase form II (cbbM) gene transcript clone libraries were used to detect potential active chemolithoautotrophic GSOs in the Baltic Sea. Taken together, the results obtained by these two approaches demonstrated the existence of two major phylogenetic subclusters embedded within the GSO, one of them affiliated with sequences of the previously described SUP05 subgroup. CARD-FISH analyses revealed that only SUP05 occurred in relatively high numbers, reaching 10 to 30% of the total prokaryotes around the oxic-anoxic interface, where oxygen and sulfide concentrations are minimal. The applicability of the oligonucleotide probes was confirmed with samples from the Black Sea redoxcline, in which the SUP05 subgroup accounted for 10 to 13% of the total prokaryotic abundance. The cbbM transcripts presumably originating from SUP05 cells support previous evidence for the chemolithoautotrophic activity of this phylogenetic group. Our findings on the vertical distribution and high abundance of SUP05 suggest that this group plays an important role in marine redoxcline biogeochemistry, probably as anaerobic or aerobic sulfur oxidizers.
Glaubitz et al. (Sat,) studied this question.