Publication details

Chlamydial seasonal dynamics and isolation of ‘Candidatus Neptunochlamydia vexilliferae’from a Tyrrhenian coastal lake.

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Authors

PIZZETTI Ilaria SCHULZ Frederik TYML Tomáš FUCHS Bernhard M. AMANN Rudolf HORN Matthias FAZI Stefano

Year of publication 2016
Type Article in Periodical
Magazine / Source Environmental Microbiology
MU Faculty or unit

Faculty of Science

Citation
Web http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1462-2920.13111/full
Doi http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1462-2920.13111
Keywords BAYESIAN PHYLOGENETIC INFERENCE; TARGETED OLIGONUCLEOTIDE PROBES; IN-SITU HYBRIDIZATION; WATER-TREATMENT-PLANT; ABORTED BOVINE FETUS; RIBOSOMAL-RNA GENE; ORDER CHLAMYDIALES; ENVIRONMENTAL CHLAMYDIAE; INTRACELLULAR BACTERIA; FAMILY CHLAMYDIACEAE
Description The Chlamydiae are a phylum of obligate intracellular bacteria comprising important human and animal pathogens, yet their occurrence in the environment, their phylogenetic diversity and their host range has been largely underestimated. We investigated the seasonality of environmental chlamydiae in a Tyrrhenian coastal lake. By catalysed reporter deposition fluorescence in situ hybridization, we quantified the small planktonic cells and detected a peak in the abundance of environmental chlamydiae in early autumn with up to 5.9x10(4) cells ml(-1). Super-resolution microscopy improved the visualization and quantification of these bacteria and enabled the detection of pleomorphic chlamydial cells in their protist host directly in an environmental sample. To isolate environmental chlamydiae together with their host, we applied a high-throughput limited dilution approach and successfully recovered a Vexillifera sp., strain harbouring chlamydiae (93% 16S rRNA sequence identity to Simkania negevensis), tentatively named CandidatusNeptunochlamydia vexilliferae'. Transmission electron microscopy in combination with fluorescence in situ hybridization was used to prove the intracellular location of these bacteria representing the first strain of marine chlamydiae stably maintained alongside with their host in a laboratory culture. Taken together, this study contributes to a better understanding of the distribution and diversity of environmental chlamydiae in previously neglected marine environments.
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