[11] Another defining feature is the ability to store nitrate inside the vacuoles of the wide marine species' cells.

16S rRNA sequences base studies inferred that this characteristic is shared between members of a monophyletic clade nested in the Beggiatoa genera; this clade also includes members of Thioploca and Thiomargarita, both presenting only slight differences with Beggiatoas: whereas the former grows sharing a common slime sheath, the latter has not conserved filamentous growth and forms chains of rounded cells.

Beggiatoa alba has a GC content between 40 and 42.7 mol%, two or three similar plasmids, and a genome size of about 3 Megabase (Mbp) (strain B18LD).

Furthermore, comparative genomics indicated horizontal gene transfer between Beggiatoa and Cyanobacteria of storage, metabolic, and gliding abilities.

[17] In the species Beggiatoa alba, this trail of mucus is composed of mannose and glucose, two types of neutral polysaccharide.

[15][17] Beggiatoa gliding motility is induced via chemotaxis, which allows filaments to direct themselves away from high oxygen, sulfide, and light levels.

Long filaments moving in opposite directions may split in two by killing an intermediate cell, referred to as a necrida, which then cuts off communication and coordinated movement between the two segments.

Sacrificial cells interrupt the communication between two parts of one filament; in this way each section can change its gliding direction causing the split.

Therefore, it is proposed that good environmental conditions will paradoxically cause cell death in order to enhance filament breakage, thus reproduction.

By this strategy, the organic carbon skeletons are saved for the purpose of increasing biomass and the CO2 autotrophic fixation is not required.

[15] Also a metabolic pathway of C-1 compounds utilization has been revealed in Beggiatoa leptomitoformis strain D-402, through comprehensive analysis of its genomic, biochemistry, physiology and molecular biology.

Nitrogen sources include nitrate, nitrite, ammonia, amino acids, urea, aspartate, asparagine, alanine and thiourea, depending on the capability of specific strains.

Thus, the temporarily storing of elemental sulfur (S0) increase the adaptability of an organism and its tolerance to changes in the concentrations of sulfide and oxygen.

The energy is gained chemoorganotrophically from oxidation of PHA (polyhydroxyalkanoates), organic compounds previously synthesized through CO2 fixation during chemolithotrophic growth on oxygen and sulfide.

They appear as a whitish layer and since they are present and flourish in marine environments which have been subject to pollution, they can be considered as an indicator species.

They can usually be found in habitats that have high levels of hydrogen sulfide, these environments include cold seeps, sulfur springs, sewage contaminated water, mud layers of lakes, and near deep hydrothermal vents.

The Beggiatoa that live in marine water can be found in regions where their source of energy (sulfide or thiosulfide) is available.

[3] This genus of Gammaprotobacteria is also common in localized area of anaerobic decomposition, such as whale carcasses on the deep ocean seafloor.

In deep sea hydrothermal vents and cold-seeps Beggiatoa can grow in filaments that can be up to 200 micrometres in diameter, which makes these ones the largest prokaryotes currently known.

Some studies on these environments have been carried out in the underwater caves of dolomitized limestone in Capo Palinuro, Salerno, (Italy).

The cyanobacteria usually occupy the surface layer of the mat, and produce a great amount of oxygen during the day through photosynthesis.

The bacteria contribute to the diet of meiofauna, in particular rotifers, polychaetes, nematodes and some groups of platyhelminthes, aschelminths and gnathostomulids.

In marine environment, the presence of these species is important because they have a fundamental role in regulation of the amount of H2S and NO3− : Beggiatoa can also accumulate phosphorus as polyphosphate, which it subsequently releases as phosphate under anoxic conditions.

The enrichment must contain the proper sulfide-oxygen interface that can be possible only if air is introduced, for example, by a slow steady flow of freshly aerated seawater.

is based on the use of extracted dried grass or hay in a mineral medium because complex polymers such as cellulose residues in the material are a substrate that supports sulfate reduction by other microbes.

In comparison, for freshwater strains, isolation must be performed under oxic conditions (air atmosphere) using a variety of media containing a low concentration of single organic compound such as acetate, Na2S or thiosulfate.

To successfully cultivate heterotrophic or mixotrophic freshwater Beggiatoa, liquid media has to contain little amounts of carbon substrate, either soil extracts or acetate.

B18LD) and related strains are generally grown in media that include a salt base, acetate as carbon source, and variable yeast extract and sulfide additions.

[35] Some marine autotrophic Beggiatoa strains are also been cultured on defined liquid mineral medium with thiosulfate, CO2, and micro-oxic conditions under aeration with 0.25% O2 (v/v) in the gas phase.

It begins to form a gradient shape due to the reaction between sulfide and oxygen: as a result, the filaments rapidly proliferate at the sulfide-oxygen interface, forming a marked layer, or "plate", of 1 mm but it is also possible to appreciate that these bacteria can track the interface and slowly descend owing to the gradual depletion of the sulfide reservoir.