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Several strains of a Gram-negative, anaerobic photoautotrophic, motile, rod-shaped bacterium, designated as B14B, A-7R, and A-7Y were isolated from biofilms of low-mineralized soda lakes in central Mongolia and Russia (southeast Siberia). They had lamellar stacks as photosynthetic structures and bacteriochlorophyll a as the major photosynthetic pigment. The strains were found to grow at 25–35 °C, pH 7.5–10.2 (optimum, pH 9.0), and with 0–8% (w/v) NaCl (optimum, 0%). In the presence of sulfide and bicarbonate, acetate, butyrate, yeast extract, lactate, malate, pyruvate, succinate, and fumarate promoted growth. The DNA G + C content was 62.9–63.0 mol%. While the 16S rRNA gene sequences confirmed that the new strains belonged to the genus Ectothiorhodospira of the Ectothiorhodospiraceae, comparison of the genome nucleotide sequences of strains B14B, A-7R, and A-7Y revealed that the new isolates were remote from all described Ectothiorhodospira species both in dDDH (19.7–38.8%) and in ANI (75.0–89.4%). The new strains are also genetically differentiated by the presence of a nitric oxide reduction pathway that is lacking from all other Ectiothiorhodospiraceae. We propose to assign the isolates to the new species, Ectothiorhodospira lacustris sp. nov., with the type strain B14BT (=DSM 116064T = KCTC 25542T = UQM 41491T). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lake Uchum is a newly defined meromictic lake in Siberia with clear seasonal changes in its mixolimnion. This study characterized the temporal dynamics and vertical profile of bacterial communities in oxic and anoxic zones of the lake across all four seasons: October (autumn), March (winter), May (spring), and August (summer). Bacterial richness and diversity in the anoxic zone varied widely between time points. Proteobacteria was the dominant bacterial phylum throughout the oxic and anoxic zones across all four seasons. Alphaproteobacteria (Loktanella) and Gammaproteobacteria (Aliidiomarina) exhibited the highest abundance in the oxic and anoxic zone, respectively. Furthermore, there was a successional shift in sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) and sulfur-oxidizing bacteria in the anoxic zone across the seasons. The most dominant SRB, Desulfonatronovibrio sp., is likely one of the main producers of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and typically accumulates the most H2S in winter. The representative anoxygenic phototrophic bacterial group in Lake Uchum was purple sulfur bacteria (PSB). PSB were dominant (60.76%) in summer, but only had 0.2–1.5% relative abundance from autumn to spring. Multivariate analysis revealed that the abundance of these SRB and PSB correlated to the concentration of H2S in Lake Uchum. Taken together, this study provides insights into the relationships between changes in bacterial community and environmental features in Lake Uchum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phototrophic sulfur bacteria form dense accumulations in the chemocline zones of stratified lakes where light reaches the sulfide-containing layers of water. Many works are dedicated to the ecophysiology of these microorganisms in meromictic lakes. However, the role of these microorganisms in the trophic network of these ecosystems, the ways of biomass utilization, and the contribution to the turnover of biogenic elements have so far been insufficiently understood. This work deals with the analysis of many years' seasonal dynamics of the biomass of purple sulfur bacteria and the physicochemical conditions of their environment in Lake Shunet (Siberia, Khakassia, Russia), unraveling the causes of their anomalous development in the chemocline of this lake, as well as the comparative analysis of such type of ecosystems. Lake Shunet is characterized by markedly pronounced stratification and the high density of purple sulfur bacteria (PSB) in the chemocline, which is comparable to that of Lake Mahoney (Canada) where the number of PSB is the greatest among those known in the world. It was shown that, in the period 2002-2009, the total amount of bacterio-chlorophyll a in the water column of Lake Shunet increased and did not correlate with the seasonal variations in temperature and illumination in the chemocline. It was established that PSB cells in the purple layer experienced the effect of self-shading. The sedimentation rate of purple sulfur bacteria in Lake Shunet was low due to the pronounced density gradient in the chemocline zone. Thus, the high number of PSB in the chemocline was due to the combination of strong illumination, a high sulfide concentration, and a high water density gradient, which was responsible for stable stratification and contributed to the accumulation of the cells in a narrow layer. The data obtained could be useful for the paleoreconstruction of climatically deter-mined changes in the level of the lake and its periods of meromixis by the presence of carotenoids and bacte-riochlorophylls in the bottom sediments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]