Visual appearance |
Milky, slimy, small drops |
Harvesting |
Harvesting was done by providing polyethylene nets as deep as possible in the sulfidic spring bore hole; attachment of visible, small biofilm drops was seen already after 10 min; quantitative harvesting after 4 days resulted in 1.5 to 2 g (wet weight) |
Microbial composition |
∼95% SM1 euryarchaea, ∼5% bacteria (mainly representatives of the δ-proteobacteria) |
Structural features |
Cells surrounded by filamentous hami and an additional, dense EPS; hami were degradable by proteinase K |
EPS composition |
Carbohydrates and proteins present at a ratio of 1:1.5 |
Water content |
∼99.6% |
pH |
7-7.5 |
Genome size (SM1 biofilm cells) |
∼3 Mbp |
GC content (SM1 biofilm cells) |
35.0 mol% |