Caroline Toney* and Costantino Vetriani

1. Characterization of Enrichment Cultures of Nitrate-Reducing Bacteria from Deep-Sea Hydrothermal Vents Caroline Toney crt8347@uncw.edu (828) 429-9476 Caroline Toney* and Costantino Vetriani Conclusions Introduction Deep-sea vents are one of the last frontiers of the unexplored world. These unique environments spew forth super-heated fluid that is laden with metals. The base of life which allow other organisms to live in this ecosystem are microorganisms which undergo chemosynthesis as a means of primary production. • The molecular characterization of the organisms cultured in the samples taken from the dives reveals that there may be new species among them. • The sequences of the 16S rRNA gene from the organisms grown show that further isolation is needed for some samples in order to have a pure culture from which further investigation of the species can be done. • Future work would include characterization of isolated organisms. Morphological observation and studies of optimal growth in temperature, salinity and pH will be executed. Metabolism will be studied through growth under different conditions (i.e. electron donors and acceptors, pressure, etc.), in organic substrates, and resistance to antibiotics will also be tested. Alvinellapompejana. (noc.soton.ac.uk) Crab Spa (whoi.edu) Samples were taken during Nautile Dive (ND) #: ND 1726Alvinellapompejanatubes ND 1727 Alvinellapompejanaencrusted sulfides ND 1729 Fluid from Crab Spa; Bottom Seawater Table 1. Characteristics of anaerobic media used. Figure 1. Illustration of deep-sea hydrothermal vent flow. (Brock et al., 2006). Figure 2. Sampling sites of deep-sea hydrothermal vents on the East Pacific Rise Objectives Acknowledgements • To grow cultures from samples taken at vent sites at 9°N and 13°N. • To isolate anaerobic, nitrate-reducing bacteria using different techniquesand media. • To compare the 16S rRNA gene sequences of these organisms to the databaseusing BLAST (Basic  Local Alignment Search Tool) to assess theirrelatedness to other species. We want to thank the crew of the R/V L’Atlanteand the crew and pilots of the DSV/Nautilefor sample collection We would like to offer our thanks to the members of the Deep Sea Microbiology Lab at Rutgers University their expertise, as well. This work was supported by an NSF grant. Table 2. Results of sequencing and BLAST.