Culturing of “Unculturable” Subsurface Microbes: Natural Organic Carbon Source Fuels the Growth of Diverse and Distinct Bacteria From Groundwater
Name
fmicb-11-610001.pdf
Description
Published version
Size
6.18 MB
Format
Unknown
Checksum (MD5)
4796cfe06313c6e36ec70013b4361595
Author(s)
Wu, Xiaoqin
Spencer, Sarah
Gushgari-Doyle, Sara
Yee, Mon Oo
Voriskova, Jana
Li, Yifan
Alm, Eric J.
Chakraborty, Romy
Date Issued
December 2020
Journal
Frontiers in Microbiology
Publisher
Frontiers Media SA
Version
Final published version
Abstract
© Copyright © 2020 Wu, Spencer, Gushgari-Doyle, Yee, Voriskova, Li, Alm and Chakraborty. Recovery and cultivation of diverse environmentally-relevant microorganisms from the terrestrial subsurface remain a challenge despite recent advances in modern molecular technology. Here, we applied complex carbon (C) sources, i.e., sediment dissolved organic matter (DOM) and bacterial cell lysate, to enrich groundwater microbial communities for 30 days. As comparisons, we also included enrichments amended with simple C sources including glucose, acetate, benzoate, oleic acid, cellulose, and mixed vitamins. Our results demonstrate that complex C is far more effective in enriching diverse and distinct microorganisms from groundwater than simple C. Simple C enrichments yield significantly lower biodiversity, and are dominated by few phyla (e.g., Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes), while microcosms enriched with complex C demonstrate significantly higher biodiversity including phyla that are poorly represented in published culture collections (e.g., Verrucomicrobia, Planctomycetes, and Armatimonadetes). Subsequent isolation from complex C enrichments yielded 228 bacterial isolates representing five phyla, 17 orders, and 56 distinct species, including candidate novel, rarely cultivated, and undescribed organisms. Results from this study will substantially advance cultivation and isolation strategies for recovering diverse and novel subsurface microorganisms. Obtaining axenic representatives of “once-unculturable” microorganisms will enhance our understanding of microbial physiology and function in different biogeochemical niches of terrestrial subsurface ecosystems.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Biological Engineering
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2020.610001
