Materials and Methods
Sediment Sampling and Collection of Magnetotactic
Bacteria
Samples were collected at Six-Fours-les-Plages
(430600300N; 54902000E) in March 2013, in one site of a
Specially Protected Area of Mediterranean Importance
(SPAMI, United Nations Environment Programme), and
classified as ‘‘Natura 2000’’ area (European ecological
network; http://inpn.mnhn.fr/site/natura2000/FR9302001/
tab/habitats) (Suppl data 1). The samples were taken below
the tidal zone of the sandy beach of a lagoon (1.5 m water
depth). The top 5-cm depth sediments until the suboxic
zone, just below the OATZ, were collected (Suppl data 2).
Sediments (150 mL) and marine water (300 mL) were
sampled in eight 500 mL plastic bottles containing 10 %