Cable bacteria exhibit a unique metabolism involving long‐distance electron transport, significantly impacting elemental cycling in various sediments. These long filamentous bacteria are distributed circumglobally, suggesting an effective mode of dispersal. However, oxygen strongly inhibits their activity, posing a challenge to their dispersal through the water column. We investigated the effective dispersal of marine cable bacteria in a compartmentalised microcosm experiment. Cable bacteria were grown in natural ‘source’ sediment, and their metabolic activity was recorded in autoclaved ‘destination’ cores, which were only accessible through oxygenated seawater. Colonisation occurred over weeks, and destination cores contained only one cable bacterium strain. Filament ‘snippets’ (fragments with a median size of ~15 cells) accumulated in the microcosm water, with about 30% of snippets attached to sediment particles. Snippet release was also observed in situ in a salt marsh creek. This provides a model for the dispersal of cable bacteria through oxygenated water: snippets are formed by filament breakage in the sediment, released into the overlying water and transported with sediment particles that likely offer protection. These insights are informative for broader theories on microbial community assembly and prokaryotic biogeography in marine sediments.

中文翻译：

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电缆细菌通过水柱扩散在新的沉积物环境中定植


电缆细菌表现出一种独特的代谢，涉及长距离电子传递，显着影响各种沉积物中的元素循环。这些长丝状细菌分布在全球各地，表明了一种有效的传播模式。然而，氧气强烈抑制了它们的活性，对它们在水柱中的扩散构成了挑战。我们在区室缩影实验中研究了海洋电缆细菌的有效传播。电缆细菌生长在天然“源”沉积物中，它们的代谢活动记录在高压灭菌的“目标”核心中，这些核心只能通过含氧海水进入。定植发生在数周内，目的地核心仅包含一种电缆细菌菌株。细丝“片段”（中位大小为 ~15 个细胞的片段）在微观水中积累，大约 30% 的片段附着在沉积物颗粒上。在盐沼小溪中也观察到了片段释放。这为电缆细菌通过含氧水传播提供了一个模型：碎片是由沉积物中的细丝断裂形成的，释放到上覆的水中，并与可能提供保护的沉积物颗粒一起运输。这些见解为海洋沉积物中微生物群落组装和原核生物地理学的更广泛理论提供了信息。