Applied and Environmental Microbiology, September 1999, p. 3976-3981, Vol. 65, No. 9
0099-2240/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Molecular Ecology Group1 and Biogeochemistry Group,2 Max-Planck-Institute for Marine Microbiology, D-28359 Bremen, Germany
Received 2 April 1999/Accepted 2 July 1999
Thirteen psychrophilic sulfate-reducing isolates from two
permanently cold fjords of the Arctic island Spitsbergen (Hornsund and
Storfjord) were phylogenetically analyzed. They all belonged to the
subclass of Proteobacteria and were widely distributed within this group, indicating that psychrophily is a polyphyletic property. A new 16S rRNA-directed oligonucleotide probe was designed against the largest coherent cluster of these isolates. The new probe,
as well as a set of available probes, was applied in rRNA slot blot
hybridization to investigate the composition of the sulfate-reducing
bacterial community in the sediments. rRNA related to the new cluster
of incompletely oxidizing, psychrophilic isolates made up 1.4 to 20.9%
of eubacterial rRNA at Storfjord and 0.6 to 3.5% of eubacterial rRNA
at Hornsund. This group was the second-most-abundant group of sulfate
reducers at these sites. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis and
hybridization analysis showed bands identical to those produced by our
isolates. The data indicate that the psychrophilic isolates are
quantitatively important in Svalbard sediments.
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