Previous Article | Next Article ![]()
Applied and Environmental Microbiology, September 1999, p. 4271-4275, Vol. 65, No. 9
Department of Organismic and Evolutionary
Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138
Received 22 December 1998/Accepted 21 June 1999
The diversity of a microbial community covering the surface of a
marine nematode was analyzed by performing a 16S ribosomal DNA (rDNA)
restriction cutting and sequencing analysis. In two clone libraries
constructed by using individual nematodes, 54 and 85 restriction
patterns were identified, and only 13 of these patterns were common to
both libraries. Sequence analysis indicated that the common patterns
belonged to four groups related to sequences of cytophagas,
sulfate-reducing bacteria, members of the gamma subclass of the class
Proteobacteria, and caulobacters. At least two groups
appeared to be permanent members of the community as they were also
detected in a 16S rDNA library constructed 3 years previously by using
100 pooled nematode specimens. A surprising outcome was that very
dominant filamentous bacteria were apparently not represented in the
clone libraries, as quantitative probing showed that none of the common
operational taxonomic unit groups displayed the expected overwhelming
dominance. Nevertheless, our analysis revealed both an unexpectedly
high level of bacterial diversity and heterogeneity in samples
representing presumably very similar microenvironments.
0099-2240/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Diversity and Heterogeneity of Epibiotic Bacterial
Communities on the Marine Nematode Eubostrichus
dianae

and
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: The Biological
Laboratories, 16 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138. Phone: (617) 495-2177. Fax: (617) 496-5854. E-mail:
ccavanaugh{at}oeb.harvard.edu.
Present address: Department of Civil and Environmental
Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139.
Present address: Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139.
This article has been cited by other articles:
Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology. For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»