Verona Vandieken

Institute for Chemistry and Biology of the Marine Environment (ICBM)
Faculty 5, Mathematics and Science
University of Oldenburg
P.O. Box, D-26111 Oldenburg
(or: Carl-von-Ossietzky-Str. 9-11, D-26129 Oldenburg)

- Voice: +49 (0)441- 798 5376
- Fax: +49 (0)441- 798 3404
- e-mail: verona.vandieken@uni-oldenburg.de

Research interests

• Viral production and diveristy in deep subsurface sediments
• Enrichment, isolation and characterization of deep biosphere bacteria and their prophages

• Diversity of prokaryotes in intertidal sediments of the North Sea
• Contribution and regulation of microbial manganese, iron, and sulfate reduction in marine sediments
• Turnover and importance of electron donors for manganese, iron, and sulfate reducers in marine sediments
• Identification of manganese and iron reducers in marine sediments with varying contents of manganese and iron oxides
• Enrichment, isolation and characterization of manganese-, iron-, and sulfate-reducing bacteria

• Chemolithoautotrophic microorganisms in the central Baltic Sea with special focus on nitrification and denitrification
• Diversity of thermophilic sulfate reducers in Arctic sediment
• Diversity of microorganisms in microbial mats
• Competition of iron reducers and methanogens for hydrogen in lake sediments

Methods

• Rate measurements of: viral production, dark carbon dioxide fixation, turnover of volatile fatty acids, and microbial manganese-, iron-, and sulfate reduction (radioisotopes, inhibition studies), methanogenesis (gas chromatography), nitrification, denitrification, and anammox (stable isotopes), total oxygen consumption (optodes)
• Chemical analyses of: iron, sulfide, and ammonium (spectrophotometry), calcium and manganese (AAS), sulfate, chloride, selenate, and selenite (IC), elemental sulfur and volatile fatty acids (HPLC), nitrate and nitrite (spectrophotometry, NOx analyzer), dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) (flow injection analysis), stable N-isotopes (GC-MS), hydrogen and methane (GC)

• Cultivation of: aerobic ammonia-oxidizing archaea, anaerobic cultivation of iron-, manganese-, and sulfate-reducing bacteria (Hungate technique), MPN counts
• Pure culture techniques: isolation of iron- and sulfate-reducing bacteria in agar dilution series

• Single cell analyses: fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), catalyzed reporter deposition FISH (CARD-FISH), DAPI- and acridine orange-staining
• Analyses of in situ activity: RNA-stable isotope probing (SIP), microautoradiography-FISH (MAR-FISH)
• Fingerprinting techniques: terminal-restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP), denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE), pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE)
• Taxonomy: clone libraries, sequencing, design of FISH-probes, phylogenetic analysis with ARB

Employment

• Since 10/2011: Research Associate, Paleomicrobiology Group, Institute for Chemistry and Biology of the Marine Environment, University of Oldenburg, Germany
• 10/2010-09/2011: PostDoc, Molecular and Microbial Ecology Group, Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde, Germany
• 10/2008-09/2010: PostDoc (FNU fellowship), Nordic Center for Earth Evolution, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark
• 06/2006-08/2008: PostDoc (DAAD fellowship), Exobiology Branch, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, USA
• 08/2005-04/2006: Postdoc (Max Planck fellowship), Department of Biogeochemistry, Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Bremen, Germany
• 01/2002-07/2005 PhD student, Department of Biogeochemistry, Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Bremen, Germany. Supervisor Bo Barker Jørgensen, Thesis "Microbiological and biogeochemical studies of microbial Mn(IV) and Fe(III) reduction in Arctic sediments (Svalbard)"

Publications

• Vandieken V, Niemann H, Engelen B, Cypionka H (2017). Marinisporobacter balticus gen. nov., sp. nov., Desulfosporosinus nitroreducens sp. nov. and Desulfosporosinus fructosivorans sp. nov., new spore-forming bacteria isolated from subsurface sediments of the Baltic Sea. International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiolbiology, 67: 1887-1893, doi: 10.1099/ijsem.0.001883.
• Hyun J-H, Kim S-H, Mok J-S, Cho H, Lee T, Vandieken V, Thamdrup T (2017). Manganese and iron reduction dominate organic carbon oxidation in deep continental margin sediments of the Ulleung Basin, East Sea. Biogeosciences, 14, 941-958, doi:10.5194/bg-14-941-2017.
• Beck M, Reckhardt A, Amelsberg J, Bartholomä A, Brumsack H-J, Cypionka H, Dittmar T, Engelen B, Greskowiak J, Hillebrand H, Holtappels M, Neuholz R, Köster J, Kuypers MMM, Massmann G, Meier D, Niggemann J, Paffrath R, Pahnke K, Rovo S, Striebel M, Vandieken V, Wehrmann A & Zielinski O (2017). The drivers of biogeochemistry in beach ecosystems: A cross-shore transect from the dunes to the low water line. Marine Chemistry, 190: 35-50, doi: 10.1016/j.marchem.2017.01.001.
• Kanukollu S, Voget S, Pohlner M, Vandieken V, Petersen J, Kyrpides NC, Woyke T, Shapiro N, Göker M, Klenk H-P, Cypionka H & Engelen B (2016). Genome sequence of Shimia str. SK013, a representative of the Roseobacter group isolated from marine sediment. Standards in Genomic Sciences, 1, 1-10, doi: 10.1186/s40793-016-0143-0
• Berg C, Vandieken V, Thamdrup B & Jürgens K (2015). Significance of archaeal nitrification in hypoxic waters of the Baltic Sea. ISME Journal 9: 1319-1332.
• Berg C, Listmann, L, Vandieken V, Vogts A & Jürgens K (2015). Chemoautotrophic growth of ammonia-oxidizing Thaumarchaeota enriched from a pelagic redox gradient in the Baltic Sea. Frontiers in Microbiology, 5, Article 786, doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2014.00786.
• Vandieken V, Finke N & Thamdrup B (2014). Hydrogen, acetate, and lactate as electron donors for microbial manganese reduction in a manganese-rich coastal marine sediment. FEMS Microbiology Ecology, 87, 733-745.
• Vandieken V & Thamdrup B (2013). Identification of acetate-oxidizing bacteria in a coastal marine surface sediment by RNA-stable isotope probing in anoxic slurries and intact cores. FEMS Microbiology Ecology, 84, 373-386.
• Vandieken V, Pester M, Finke N, Hyun J-H, Friedrich MW, Loy A & Thamdrup B (2012). Three manganese oxide-rich marine sediments harbor similar communities of acetate-oxidizing manganese-reducing bacteria. ISME Journal, 6, 2078-2090.
• Holmkvist L, Arning E, Küster-Heins K, Vandieken V, Peckmann J, Zabel M & Jørgensen BB (2010). Phosphate geochemistry, mineralization processes, and Thioploca distribution in shelf sediments off central Chile. Marine Geology, 277, 61-72.
• Hubert C, Arnosti C, Brüchert V, Loy A, Vandieken V & Jørgensen BB (2010). Thermophilic anaerobes in Arctic marine sediments induced to mineralize complex organic matter at high temperature. Environmental Microbiology, 12, 1089-1104.
• Hubert C, Loy A, Nickel M, Arnosti C, Baranyi C, Brüchert V, Ferdelman T, Finster K, Christensen FM, de Rezende JR, Vandieken V & Jørgensen BB (2009). A constant flux of diverse thermophilic bacteria into the cold Arctic seabed. Science, 325, 1541-1544.
• Nickel M, Vandieken V, Brüchert V & Jørgensen BB (2008). Microbial Mn(IV) and Fe(III) reduction in northern Barents Sea sediments under different conditions of ice cover and organic carbon deposition. Deep Sea Research II, 55, 2390-2398.
• Finke N, Vandieken V & Jørgensen BB (2007). Acetate, lactate, propionate, and isobutyrate as electron donors for iron and sulfate reduction in Arctic marine sediments, Svalbard. FEMS Microbiology Ecology, 59, 10-22.
• Vandieken V, Finke N & Jørgensen BB (2006). Pathways of carbon oxidation in an Arctic fjord sediment (Svalbard) and isolation of psychrophilic and psychrotolerant Fe(III)-reducing bacteria. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 322, 29-41.
• Vandieken V, Nickel M & Jørgensen BB (2006). Carbon mineralization in Arctic sediments northeast of Svalbard: Mn(IV) and Fe(III) reduction as principal anaerobic respiratory pathways. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 322, 15-27.
• Vandieken V, Knoblauch C & Jørgensen BB (2006). Desulfovibrio frigidus sp. nov. and Desulfovibrio ferrireducens sp. nov., two psychrotolerant bacteria isolated from Arctic fjord sediments (Svalbard) with the ability to reduce Fe(III). International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology, 56, 681-685.
• Vandieken V, Knoblauch C & Jørgensen BB (2006). Desulfotomaculum arcticum sp. nov., a new spore-forming, moderately thermophilic sulfate-reducing bacterium isolated from a permanently cold fjord sediment of Svalbard. International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology, 56, 687-690.
• Vandieken V, Mußmann M, Niemann H & Jørgensen BB (2006). Desulfuromonas svalbardensis sp. nov. and Desulfuromusa ferrireducens sp. nov., psychrophilic Fe(III)-reducing bacteria isolated from Arctic sediments, Svalbard. International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology, 56, 1133-1139.
• Felske A, Vandieken V, Pauling BW, von Canstein HF, Wagner-Döbler I (2003). Molecular quantification of genes encoding for green-fluorescent proteins. Journal of Microbiological Methods 52, 297-304.
• Nübel U, Bateson MM, Vandieken V, Wieland A, Kühl M & Ward DM (2002). Microscopic examination of distribution and phenotypic properties of phylogenetic diverse Chloroflexus-related bacteria in hot spring microbial mats. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 68, 4593-4603.