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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, August 2000, p. 3556-3565, Vol. 66, No. 8
Institut für Agrarökologie,
Bundesforschungsanstalt für Landwirtschaft (FAL), 38116 Braunschweig, Germany
Received 14 January 2000/Accepted 9 May 2000
Fourteen weeks after field release of luciferase gene-tagged
Sinorhizobium meliloti L33 in field plots seeded with
Medicago sativa, we found that the inoculant also occurred
in bulk soil from noninoculated control plots. In rhizospheres
of M. sativa plants, S. meliloti L33 could be
detected in noninoculated plots 12 weeks after inoculation, indicating
that growth in the rhizosphere preceded spread into bulk soil.
To determine whether inoculation affected bacterial diversity, 1,119 bacteria were isolated from the rhizospheres of M. sativa and Chenopodium album, which was the dominant
weed in the field plots. Amplified ribosomal DNA restriction analysis
(ARDRA) revealed plant-specific fragment size frequencies. Dominant
ARDRA groups were identified by 16S rRNA gene nucleotide sequencing.
Database comparisons indicated that the rhizospheres contained
members of the Proteobacteria (
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Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Effect of Field Inoculation with Sinorhizobium
meliloti L33 on the Composition of Bacterial Communities in
Rhizospheres of a Target Plant (Medicago sativa) and a
Non-Target Plant (Chenopodium album)
Linking of 16S
rRNA Gene-Based Single-Strand Conformation Polymorphism
Community Profiles to the Diversity of Cultivated
Bacteria
and
,
, and
subgroups), members of the Cytophaga-Flavobacterium group,
and gram-positive bacteria with high G+C DNA contents. The levels of
many groups were affected by the plant species and, in the case of
M. sativa, by inoculation. The most abundant isolates were
related to Variovorax sp., Arthrobacter
ramosus, and Acinetobacter calcoaceticus. In the
rhizosphere of M. sativa, inoculation reduced the
numbers of cells of A. calcoaceticus and members of the
genus Pseudomonas and increased the number of rhizobia.
Cultivation-independent PCR-single-strand conformation polymorphism
(SSCP) profiles of a 16S rRNA gene region confirmed the existence of
plant-specific rhizosphere communities and the effect of the
inoculant. All dominant ARDRA groups except Variovorax
species could be detected. On the other hand, the SSCP profiles
revealed products which could not be assigned to the dominant cultured
isolates, indicating that the bacterial diversity was greater than the
diversity suggested by cultivation.
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: FAL-Institut
für Agrarökologie, Bundesallee 50, 38116 Braunschweig, Germany. Phone: (49) 531-596 736. Fax: (49) 531-596 366. E-mail: christoph.tebbe{at}fal.de.
Present address: AMODIA Bioservice GmbH, 38124 Braunschweig, Germany.
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