Table S1. MTB strains and populations that have been characterized in the last five years (2009-2013). Strain/Population Taxonomy Accession number of 16S Source Reference Lefèvre et rRNA gene Cultivated Magneto-ovoid bacterium strain MO-1 Proteobacteria; Alphaproteobacteria EF643520 Pointe Rouge, Marseille, France Marine magnetic spirillum QH-2 Proteobacteria; Alphaproteobacteria EU675666 Huiquan Bay, Shandong, China MTB al., 2009 Zhu et al., 2010 Magnetospirillum strain LM-1 Proteobacteria; Alphaproteobacteria JF490044 Lake Mead, Nevada, USA Lefèvre et al., 2012a Magnetospirillum strain LM-2 Proteobacteria; Alphaproteobacteria JF490039 Lake Mead, Nevada, USA Lefèvre et al., 2012a Magnetospirillum strain LM-4 Proteobacteria; Alphaproteobacteria JF490036 Lake Mead, Nevada, USA Lefèvre et al., 2012a Magnetospirillum strain LM-5 Proteobacteria; Alphaproteobacteria JF490040 Lake Mead, Nevada, USA Magnetospirillum strain CB-1 Proteobacteria; Alphaproteobacteria JF490037 Lake Mead, Nevada, USA Lefèvre et al., 2012a Lefèvre et al., 2012a Magnetospirillum strain UT-1 Magnetospirillum strain UT-2 Magnetospirillum strain UT-4 Proteobacteria; Alphaproteobacteria JF490042 Proteobacteria; Alphaproteobacteria JF490035 Proteobacteria; Alphaproteobacteria JF490034 Pond near Zion National Park, Utah, Lefèvre et USA al., 2012a Pond near Zion National Park, Utah, Lefèvre et USA al., 2012a Pond near Zion National Park, Utah, Lefèvre et USA al., 2012a Lefèvre et Magnetospirillum strain KR-1 Proteobacteria; Alphaproteobacteria JF490038 Kolob reservoir, Utah, USA Magnetospirillum strain CC-2 Proteobacteria; Alphaproteobacteria JF490043 Spring at the Corn Creek Field Station, al., 2012a 1 Lefèvre et Magnetospirillum strain LEMS Proteobacteria; Alphaproteobacteria JF490046 Nevada, USA al., 2012a Lake Ely, Pennsylvania, USA Lefèvre et al., 2012a Magnetospirillum strain NML-1 Proteobacteria; Alphaproteobacteria JF490041 Pond near Mono Lake, California, USA Lefèvre et al., 2012a Magnetospirillum strain SS-4 Alkaliphilic magnetotactic strain ML-1 Proteobacteria; Alphaproteobacteria JF490045 Proteobacteria; Deltaproteobacteria HQ595725 Alamo River near the Salton Sea, Lefèvre et California, USA al., 2012a Mono Lake, California, USA Lefèvre et al., 2011a Alkaliphilic magnetotactic strain ZZ-1 Proteobacteria; Deltaproteobacteria HQ595726 Soda Spring, California, USA Lefèvre et al., 2011a Alkaliphilic magnetotactic strain AV-1 Proteobacteria; Deltaproteobacteria HQ595727 Armagosa Valley, California, USA Lefèvre et al., 2011a Candidatus Desulfamplus Proteobacteria; Deltaproteobacteria JN252194 magnetomortis strain BW-1 BW-2 SS-5 Proteobacteria; Gammaproteobacteria HQ595728 Proteobacteria; Gammaproteobacteria HQ595729 A brackish spring at Badwater Basin, Lefèvre et California, USA. al., 2011d Badwater Basin, Death Valley National Lefèvre et Park, California, USA al., 2012b Salton Sea, California, USA Lefèvre et al., 2012b Uncultivat Candidatus Magnetococcus ed MTB yuandaducum Uncultivated magnetotactic coccus Proteobacteria; Alphaproteobacteria FJ667777 Yuandadu Park, Beijing, China Lin and Pan, 2009 Proteobacteria; Alphaproteobacteria AB537162 Well water in Kururi, Chiba, Japan Arakaki et al., 2010 Uncultivated Bean-like magnetococci Proteobacteria; Alphaproteobacteria JF421219 Huiquan Bay, Shandong, China Proteobacteria; Alphaproteobacteria JF421220 Huiquan Bay, Shandong, China clone 1-3 Uncultivated Bean-like magnetococci Zhang et al., 2012 2 Zhang et al., clone 1-9 Uncultivated rod-shaped 2012 Proteobacteria; Alphaproteobacteria JX515337 Huiquan Bay, Shandong, China magnetotactic bacterium Uncultivated magnetotactic bacterium 2013 Proteobacteria; Alphaproteobacteria JX402657 Wadden see near Cuxhaven, Germany Cux-01 Uncultivated magnetotactic bacterium Proteobacteria; Alphaproteobacteria JX402658 Wadden see near Cuxhaven, Germany Proteobacteria; Alphaproteobacteria JX402659 Wadden see near Cuxhaven, Germany Proteobacteria; Alphaproteobacteria JX402651 Lake Chiemsee, Munich, Germany Proteobacteria; Alphaproteobacteria JX402652 Lake Chiemsee, Munich, Germany Proteobacteria; Alphaproteobacteria JX402655 Lake Chiemsee, Munich, Germany Proteobacteria; Alphaproteobacteria JX402656 Lake Chiemsee, Munich, Germany Proteobacteria; Deltaproteobacteria HQ857738 Proteobacteria; Deltaproteobacteria JX134742 The intertidal zone of the Yellow Sea in Zhou et al., Qingdao, Shandong, China 2012 The city moat of Xi'an, China Wang et al., OTU 9 Uncultivated magnetotactic bacterium 2013 Proteobacteria; Deltaproteobacteria JX134743 The city moat of Xi'an, China OTU 10 Uncultivated magnetotactic bacterium Wang et al., 2013 Proteobacteria; Deltaproteobacteria JX134744 The city moat of Xi'an, China OTU 11 Uncultivated magnetotactic bacterium Kolinko et al., 2013 tsingtaoensis Uncultivated magnetotactic bacterium Kolinko et al., 2013 CS-06 Candidatus Magnetananas Kolinko et al., 2013 CS-05 Uncultivated magnetotactic bacterium Kolinko et al., 2013 CS-02 Uncultivated magnetotactic bacterium Kolinko et al., 2013 CS-01 Uncultivated magnetotactic bacterium Kolinko et al., 2013 Cux-03 Uncultivated magnetotactic bacterium Kolinko et al., 2013 Cux-02 Uncultivated magnetotactic bacterium Zhang et al., Wang et al., 2013 Proteobacteria; Deltaproteobacteria JX134745 3 The city moat of Xi'an, China Wang et al., OTU 12 Uncultivated magnetotactic bacterium 2013 Proteobacteria; Deltaproteobacteria JX134746 The city moat of Xi'an, China OTU 13 Uncultivated magnetotactic bacterium 2013 Proteobacteria; Deltaproteobacteria JX134747 The city moat of Xi'an, China OTU 14 Uncultivated magnetotactic bacterium Proteobacteria; Deltaproteobacteria JX134748 The city moat of Xi'an, China Proteobacteria; Deltaproteobacteria JX134749 The city moat of Xi'an, China Proteobacteria; Deltaproteobacteria JX134750 The city moat of Xi'an, China Proteobacteria; Deltaproteobacteria JX134751 The city moat of Xi'an, China Nitrospirae GU289667 Nitrospirae GU979422 Great Boiling Springs in Gerlach, Lefèvre et Nevada, USA al., 2010 Las Vegas, Nevada, USA Lefèvre et strain LO-1 Candidatus Magnetobacterium al., 2011b Nitrospirae HM454280 Lake Miyun, Beijing, China bavaricum-like bacterial group 1 Candidatus Magnetobacterium Nitrospirae HM454279, HM454281, Lake Miyun, Beijing, China HM454282, HM454283 Nitrospirae JN630580 Lake Beihai, Beijing, China Lin et al., 2012a Nitrospirae JX402653 Lake Chiemsee, Munich, Germany CS-03 Uncultivated magnetotactic bacterium Lin et al., 2011 MWB-1 Uncultivated magnetotactic bacterium Lin et al., 2011 bavaricum-like bacterial group 2 Uncultivated magnetotactic strain Wang et al., 2013 paiutensis strain HSMV-1 Candidatus Magnetoovum mohavensis Wang et al., 2013 OTU 18 Candidatus Thermomagnetovibrio Wang et al., 2013 OTU 17 Uncultivated magnetotactic bacterium Wang et al., 2013 OTU 16 Uncultivated magnetotactic bacterium Wang et al., 2013 OTU 15 Uncultivated magnetotactic bacterium Wang et al., Kolinko et al., 2013 Nitrospirae JX402654 4 Lake Chiemsee, Munich, Germany Kolinko et CS-04 al., 2013 Uncultivated magnetotactic bacterium Planctomycetes-Verrucomicrobia-Chlamyd SKK-01 iae, candidate division OP3 JN412734 Lake Chiemsee, Munich, Germany Kolinko et al., 2012 References Arakaki, A., Shibusawa, M., Hosokawa, M., and Matsunaga, T. 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