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Titanospirillum velox. Barbara J. S. Edmunds. Not Titanospirillum velox !. Titanospirillum velox. 5 m. Found in the Mediterranean. in Tarragona, Spain. in the Ebro River Delta. along the Alfacs Peninsula. in a microbial mat. 10 cm. Mineralogical Composition Of Ebro Delta.
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Titanospirillum velox Barbara J. S. Edmunds
in a microbial mat 10 cm
Carbon and Nitrogen Areas with microbial mats: Nitrogen 0.3 — 10.8 mg/cm2 Organic Carbon 6.8 — 52.4 mg/cm2 Areas with no microbial mats: Nitrogen <1g/cm2 Organic Carbon <4 mg/cm2
Oxic Zone Limited O2 Anoxic Zone Aerobic or Anaerobic?
AuthorsRicardo GuerreroAaron HaseltonMonica SoléAndrew WierLynn Margulis
Amitochondrial Protists Entamoeba Giardia Trichomonas
Methods • Collected when surface of Microcoleus—dominated mats lacked standing water • Glass jars filled to brim with sulfide-rich black mud underlying photosynthetic layers sealed tightly to minimize O2 exposure • Mat inoculated into anoxic media • Protists removed • After 4 weeks, remoisten with 5ml filtered sea H2O • Two days later, 4 protists observed
Found Titanospirillum velox 5 m Thought it was a protist!
Anammox Kingdom Spirochete
Size…20-40m long3-6 m wide 5 m 5 m
5 um Titanospirillum velox... is a million times bigger than Escherichia coli!
Heterotrophic 5 m
Heterotrophs derive energy from breaking down complex organic compounds that are taken from the environment.
Stores sulfur globules 5 m 5 m
Its part of the Sulfur Cycle H2S + ½ O2 -----> So + H2O + energy Oxidizes Hydrogen Sulfide
>60 flagella at each terminus single arrow points to standard size Spirilla 5 m
Speedy bend, flex and swim in a spiral fashion 10 body lengths in 1 second
Adrianus Pijper • Lived 1886-1984 - South African biologist • Spirilla exhibit a gyratory and undulatory movement • Claimed bacilli, vibios and spirilla are all spiral-shaped when swimming, and they swim with undulation of a flexible cell body • Claimed that flagella are a nonessential product of motility • He misinterpreted rotary activity - his ideas were summarily dismissed • However, these cell walls do show some role in swimming
Among Purple phototrophic and other inhabitants of sulfurous microbial mat mud • Samples from both Spain and the United States survived months in sealed jars • Cosmopolitan distribution?
Paper written 1999 No paper since that time...