Ecology of Gemmatimonadota – Izabela MUJAKIĆ, M.Sc.

Abstract:

Phylum Gemmatimonadota is a common group present in many natural environments. Yet, this interesting bacterial group is rarely studied. Since its discovery 20 years ago, only six cultured species have been described. Abundances of Gemmatimonadota in various environments are usually low (<1%), with the exception of soils, where they are one of the more abundant phyla. Probably for this reason, at the onset of this work, most of the knowledge about Gemmatimonadota came from studies of soil environments, while information about their ecology in freshwater lakes was missing. An interesting discovery relating to the unexplored diversity of Gemmatimonadota in freshwaters was the isolation of the first phototrophic member of this group, Gemmatimonas phototrophica, which was cultured from a shallow freshwater lake. To learn more about the ecology of Gemmatimonadota in freshwaters, the main focus of this thesis was the analysis of their distribution and diversity in several freshwater lakes, with emphasis on presence of photoheterotrophic Gemmatimonadota. The potential ecological roles of this group, metabolic capabilities and general genomic characteristics have also been addressed, thereby allowing a broader scope comparison with Gemmatimonadota from other environments such as soil, marine waters, or wastewaters. …víceméně