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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, October 2001, p. 4619-4629, Vol. 67, No. 10
0099-2240/01/$04.00+0   DOI: 10.1128/AEM.67.10.4619-4629.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Relationships between Microbial Community Structure and Hydrochemistry in a Landfill Leachate-Polluted Aquifer

Wilfred F. M. Röling,1,dagger Boris M. van Breukelen,2 Martin Braster,1 Bin Lin,1 and Henk W. van Verseveld1,*

Section of Molecular Microbial Ecology, Department of Molecular Cell Physiology, Faculty of Biology, Research School SENSE,1 and Department of Hydro(geo)logy, Faculty of Earth Sciences,2 Vrije Universiteit, NL-1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Received 29 January 2001/Accepted 13 July 2001

Knowledge about the relationship between microbial community structure and hydrogeochemistry (e.g., pollution, redox and degradation processes) in landfill leachate-polluted aquifers is required to develop tools for predicting and monitoring natural attenuation. In this study analyses of pollutant and redox chemistry were conducted in parallel with culture-independent profiling of microbial communities present in a well-defined aquifer (Banisveld, The Netherlands). Degradation of organic contaminants occurred under iron-reducing conditions in the plume of pollution, while upstream of the landfill and above the plume denitrification was the dominant redox process. Beneath the plume iron reduction occurred. Numerical comparison of 16S ribosomal DNA (rDNA)-based denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) profiles of Bacteria and Archaea in 29 groundwater samples revealed a clear difference between the microbial community structures inside and outside the contaminant plume. A similar relationship was not evident in sediment samples. DGGE data were supported by sequencing cloned 16S rDNA. Upstream of the landfill members of the beta  subclass of the class Proteobacteria (beta -proteobacteria) dominated. This group was not encountered beneath the landfill, where gram-positive bacteria dominated. Further downstream the contribution of gram-positive bacteria to the clone library decreased, while the contribution of delta -proteobacteria strongly increased and beta -proteobacteria reappeared. The beta -proteobacteria (Acidovorax, Rhodoferax) differed considerably from those found upstream (Gallionella, Azoarcus). Direct comparisons of cloned 16S rDNA with bands in DGGE profiles revealed that the data from each analysis were comparable. A relationship was observed between the dominant redox processes and the bacteria identified. In the iron-reducing plume members of the family Geobacteraceae made a strong contribution to the microbial communities. Because the only known aromatic hydrocarbon-degrading, iron-reducing bacteria are Geobacter spp., their occurrence in landfill leachate-contaminated aquifers deserves more detailed consideration.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Section of Molecular Microbial Ecology, Department of Molecular Cell Physiology, Faculty of Biology, Research School SENSE, Vrije Universiteit, De Boelelaan 1087, NL-1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Phone: 31 20 4447193. Fax: 31 20 4446967. E-mail: verseveld{at}bio.vu.nl.

dagger Present address: Fossil Fuels and Environmental Geochemistry Post-Graduate Institute, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, United Kingdom.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, October 2001, p. 4619-4629, Vol. 67, No. 10
0099-2240/01/$04.00+0   DOI: 10.1128/AEM.67.10.4619-4629.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


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