AEM
Home Help [Feedback] [For Subscribers] [Archive] [Search] [Contents]
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Thompson, J. R.
Right arrow Articles by Polz, M. F.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Thompson, J. R.
Right arrow Articles by Polz, M. F.
Agricola
Right arrow Articles by Thompson, J. R.
Right arrow Articles by Polz, M. F.
Applied and Environmental Microbiology, July 2004, p. 4103-4110, Vol. 70, No. 7
0099-2240/04/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/AEM.70.7.4103-4110.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Diversity and Dynamics of a North Atlantic Coastal Vibrio Community

Janelle R. Thompson,1,2 Mark A. Randa,3 Luisa A. Marcelino,1 Aoy Tomita-Mitchell,1,{dagger} Eelin Lim,3 and Martin F. Polz1*

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139,1 Biology Department, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543,2 Biology Department, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 191223

Received 27 August 2003/ Accepted 24 March 2004

Vibrios are ubiquitous marine bacteria that have long served as models for heterotrophic processes and have received renewed attention because of the discovery of increasing numbers of facultatively pathogenic strains. Because the occurrence of specific vibrios has frequently been linked to the temperature, salinity, and nutrient status of water, we hypothesized that seasonal changes in coastal water bodies lead to distinct vibrio communities and sought to characterize their level of differentiation. A novel technique was used to quantify shifts in 16S rRNA gene abundance in samples from Barnegat Bay, N.J., collected over a 15-month period. Quantitative PCR (QPCR) with primers specific for the genus Vibrio was combined with separation and quantification of amplicons by constant denaturant capillary electrophoresis (CDCE). Vibrio populations identified by QPCR-CDCE varied between summer and winter samples, suggesting distinct warm-water and year-round populations. Identification of the CDCE populations by cloning and sequencing of 16S rRNA genes from two summer and two winter samples confirmed this distinction. It further showed that CDCE populations corresponded in most cases to ~98% rRNA similarity groups and suggested that the abundance of these follows temperature trends. Phylogenetic comparison yielded closely related cultured and often pathogenic representatives for most sequences, and the temperature ranges of these isolates confirmed the trends seen in the environmental samples. Overall, this suggests that temperature is a good predictor of the occurrence of closely related vibrios but that considerable microdiversity of unknown significance coexists within this trend.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 48-421, 77 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02139. Phone: (617) 253-7128. Fax: (617) 258-8850. E-mail: mpolz{at}mit.edu.

{dagger} Present address: Division of Cardiology, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA 19104.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, July 2004, p. 4103-4110, Vol. 70, No. 7
0099-2240/04/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/AEM.70.7.4103-4110.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:



Home Help [Feedback] [For Subscribers] [Archive] [Search] [Contents]
J. Bacteriol. Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev. Eukaryot. Cell All ASM Journals

Copyright © 2004 by the American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.