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Volume 11
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10.3390/microorganisms11041019
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Article

A Morphometric Approach to Understand Prokaryoplankton: A Study in the Sicily Channel (Central Mediterranean Sea)

by
Giovanna Maimone
1,
Maurizio Azzaro
1,*,
Francesco Placenti
2,
Rodolfo Paranhos
3,
Anderson Sousa Cabral
3,4,
Franco Decembrini
1,
Renata Zaccone
1,
Alessandro Cosenza
1,
Alessandro Ciro Rappazzo
1,5,
Bernardo Patti
6,
Gualtiero Basilone
2,
Angela Cuttitta
7,
Rosalia Ferreri
2,
Salvatore Aronica
2 and
Rosabruna La Ferla
1
1
Institute of Polar Sciences, CNR ISP, Spianata S. Raineri 82, 98122 Messina, Italy
2
Institute of Anthropic Impacts and Sustainability in the Marine Environment, CNR IAS, Via del Mare 3, 91021 Capo Granitola, Italy
3
Laboratory of Hydrobiology, Institute of Biology, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Av. Prof. Rodolpho Rocco 211, Rio de Janeiro 21941 617, Brazil
4
Institute of Microbiology Paulo de Góes, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Av. Carlos Chagas Filho 373, Rio de Janeiro 21941 902, Brazil
5
Department of Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics, Ca’ Foscari Unversity of Venice Campus Scientifico, Via Torino 155, 30170 Venice, Italy
6
Institute of Anthropic Impacts and Sustainability in the Marine Environment, CNR IAS, Lungomare Cristoforo Colombo 4521, 90149 Palermo, Italy
7
Institute for Studies on the Mediterranean, CNR ISMED, Via Filippo Parlatore 65, 90145 Palermo, Italy
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Microorganisms 2023, 11(4), 1019; https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms11041019
Submission received: 8 March 2023 / Revised: 6 April 2023 / Accepted: 7 April 2023 / Published: 13 April 2023
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microbes in Communities—Geobiological Processes, Symbioses, Applications 2.0)
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Abstract

A new understanding of plankton ecology has been obtained by studying the phenotypic traits of free-living prokaryotes in the Sicily Channel (Central Mediterranean Sea), an area characterised by oligotrophic conditions. During three cruises carried out in July 2012, January 2013 and July 2013, the volume and morphology of prokaryotic cells were assessed microscopically using image analysis in relation to environmental conditions. The study found significant differences in cell morphologies among cruises. The largest cell volumes were observed in the July 2012 cruise (0.170 ± 0.156 µm3), and the smallest in the January 2013 cruise (0.060 ± 0.052 µm3). Cell volume was negatively limited by nutrients and positively by salinity. Seven cellular morphotypes were observed among which cocci, rods and coccobacilli were the most abundant. Cocci, although they prevailed numerically, always showed the smallest volumes. Elongated shapes were positively related to temperature. Relationships between cell morphologies and environmental drivers indicated a bottom-up control of the prokaryotic community. The morphology/morphometry-based approach is a useful tool for studying the prokaryotic community in microbial ecology and should be widely applied to marine microbial populations in nature.
Keywords: prokaryotic cell size; cellular morphotypes; environmental factors; Sicily Channel prokaryotic cell size; cellular morphotypes; environmental factors; Sicily Channel

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MDPI and ACS Style

Maimone, G.; Azzaro, M.; Placenti, F.; Paranhos, R.; Cabral, A.S.; Decembrini, F.; Zaccone, R.; Cosenza, A.; Rappazzo, A.C.; Patti, B.; et al. A Morphometric Approach to Understand Prokaryoplankton: A Study in the Sicily Channel (Central Mediterranean Sea). Microorganisms 2023, 11, 1019. https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms11041019

AMA Style

Maimone G, Azzaro M, Placenti F, Paranhos R, Cabral AS, Decembrini F, Zaccone R, Cosenza A, Rappazzo AC, Patti B, et al. A Morphometric Approach to Understand Prokaryoplankton: A Study in the Sicily Channel (Central Mediterranean Sea). Microorganisms. 2023; 11(4):1019. https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms11041019

Chicago/Turabian Style

Maimone, Giovanna, Maurizio Azzaro, Francesco Placenti, Rodolfo Paranhos, Anderson Sousa Cabral, Franco Decembrini, Renata Zaccone, Alessandro Cosenza, Alessandro Ciro Rappazzo, Bernardo Patti, and et al. 2023. "A Morphometric Approach to Understand Prokaryoplankton: A Study in the Sicily Channel (Central Mediterranean Sea)" Microorganisms 11, no. 4: 1019. https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms11041019

APA Style

Maimone, G., Azzaro, M., Placenti, F., Paranhos, R., Cabral, A. S., Decembrini, F., Zaccone, R., Cosenza, A., Rappazzo, A. C., Patti, B., Basilone, G., Cuttitta, A., Ferreri, R., Aronica, S., & Ferla, R. L. (2023). A Morphometric Approach to Understand Prokaryoplankton: A Study in the Sicily Channel (Central Mediterranean Sea). Microorganisms, 11(4), 1019. https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms11041019

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