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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, May 2000, p. 1980-1986, Vol. 66, No. 5
Department of Chemical and Biochemical
Engineering, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey
08854,1 and Institute of Marine and
Coastal Sciences, Cook College, Rutgers University, New Brunswick,
New Jersey 08901-85212
Received 9 December 1999/Accepted 15 February 2000
Although it is widely believed that horizontal patchiness exists in
microbial sediment communities, determining the extent of variability
or the particular members of the bacterial community which account for
the observed differences among sites at various scales has not been
routinely demonstrated. In this study, horizontal heterogeneity was
examined in time and space for denitrifying bacteria in continental
shelf sediments off Tuckerton, N.J., at the Rutgers University
Long-Term Ecosystem Observatory (LEO-15). Characterization of the
denitrifying community was done using PCR amplification of the nitrous
oxide reductase (nosZ) gene combined with terminal
restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis. Spatial scales from
centimeters to kilometers were examined, while temporal variation was
assayed over the course of 1995 to 1996. Sorenson's indices (pairwise
similarity values) were calculated to permit comparison between
samples. The similarities of benthic denitrifiers ranged from 0.80 to
0.85 for centimeter scale comparisons, from 0.52 to 0.79 for meter
level comparisons, and from 0.23 to 0.53 for kilometer scale
comparisons. Sorenson's indices for temporal comparisons varied from
0.12 to 0.74. A cluster analysis of the similarity values indicated
that the composition of the denitrifier assemblages varied most
significantly at the kilometer scale and between seasons at individual
stations. Specific nosZ genes were identified which varied
at centimeter, meter, or kilometer scales and may be associated with
variability in meio- or macrofaunal abundance (centimeter scale),
bottom topography (meter scale), or sediment characteristics (kilometer scale).
0099-2240/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Horizontal Heterogeneity of Denitrifying Bacterial
Communities in Marine Sediments by Terminal Restriction Fragment
Length Polymorphism Analysis
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Institute of
Marine and Coastal Sciences, Cook Campus, Rutgers University, 71 Dudley Rd., New Brunswick, NJ 08901-8521. Phone: (732) 932-6555, x335. Fax:
(732) 932-6520. E-mail: kerkhof{at}ahab.rutgers.edu.
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