AEM
Home Help [Feedback] [For Subscribers] [Archive] [Search] [Contents]
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Lüdemann, H.
Right arrow Articles by Liesack, W.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Lüdemann, H.
Right arrow Articles by Liesack, W.
Agricola
Right arrow Articles by Lüdemann, H.
Right arrow Articles by Liesack, W.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, February 2000, p. 754-762, Vol. 66, No. 2
0099-2240/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Spatial Changes in the Bacterial Community Structure along a Vertical Oxygen Gradient in Flooded Paddy Soil Cores

Heiner Lüdemann, Inko Arth, and Werner Liesack*

Max-Planck-Institut für terrestrische Mikrobiologie, D-35043 Marburg, Germany

Received 26 July 1999/Accepted 23 November 1999

Molecular ecology techniques were applied to assess changes in the bacterial community structure along a vertical oxygen gradient in flooded paddy soil cores. Microsensor measurements showed that oxygen was depleted from 140 µM at the floodwater/soil interface to nondetectable amounts at a depth of approximately 2.0 mm and below. Bacterial 16S rRNA gene (rDNA)-based community fingerprint patterns were obtained from 200-µm-thick soil slices of both the oxic and anoxic zones by using the T-RFLP (terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism) technique. The fingerprints revealed a tremendous shift in the community patterns in correlation to the oxygen depletion measured with depth. 16S rDNA clone sequences recovered from the oxic or anoxic zone directly corresponded to those terminal restriction fragments which were highly characteristic of the respective zone. Comparative sequence analysis of these clones identified members of the alpha  and beta  subclasses of Proteobacteria as the abundant populations in the oxic zone. In contrast, members of clostridial cluster I were determined to be the predominant bacterial group in the oxygen-depleted soil. The extraction of total RNA followed by reverse transcription-PCR of the bacterial 16S rRNA and T-RFLP analysis resulted for both oxic and anoxic zones of flooded soil cores in community fingerprint patterns similar to those obtained by the rDNA-based analysis. This finding suggests that the microbial groups detected on the rDNA level are the metabolically active populations within the oxic and anoxic soil slices examined.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Max-Planck-Institut für terrestrische Mikrobiologie, Karl-von-Frisch-Str., D-35043 Marburg, Germany. Phone: 49 (6421) 178 720. Fax: 49 (6421) 178 809. E-mail: liesack{at}mailer.uni-marburg.de.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, February 2000, p. 754-762, Vol. 66, No. 2
0099-2240/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


This article has been cited by other articles:



Home Help [Feedback] [For Subscribers] [Archive] [Search] [Contents]
J. Bacteriol. Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev. Eukaryot. Cell All ASM Journals

Copyright © 2000 by the American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.