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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, August 2006, p. 5478-5485, Vol. 72, No. 8
0099-2240/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.00767-06
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Bacterioplankton Community Composition along a Salinity Gradient of Sixteen High-Mountain Lakes Located on the Tibetan Plateau, China{dagger}

Qinglong L. Wu,1,2 Gabriel Zwart,3 Michael Schauer,2 Miranda P. Kamst-van Agterveld,3 and Martin W. Hahn2*

Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, East Beijing Road 73, Nanjing 210008, People's Republic of China,1 Institute for Limnology, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Mondseestrasse 9, A-5310 Mondsee, Austria,2 Centre for Limnology, Netherlands Institute of Ecology, Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, Rijksstraatweg 6, 3631 AC Nieuwersluis, The Netherlands3

Received 3 April 2006/ Accepted 14 June 2006

The influence of altitude and salinity on bacterioplankton community composition (BCC) in 16 high-mountain lakes located at altitudes of 2,817 to 5,134 m on the Eastern Qinghai-Xizang (Tibetan) Plateau, China, spanning a salinity gradient from 0.02% (freshwater) to 22.3% (hypersaline), was investigated. Three different methods, fluorescent in situ hybridization, denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) with subsequent band sequencing, and reverse line blot hybridization (RLB) with probes targeting 17 freshwater bacterial groups, were used for analysis of BCC. Furthermore, the salt tolerances of 47 strains affiliated with groups detected in or isolated from the Tibetan habitats were investigated. Altitude was not found to influence BCC significantly within the investigated range. Several groups of typical freshwater bacteria, e.g., the ACK-M1 cluster and the Polynucleobacter group, were detected in habitats located above 4,400 m. Salinity was found to be the dominating environmental factor controlling BCC in the investigated lakes, resulting in only small overlaps in the BCCs of freshwater and hypersaline lakes. The relative abundances of different classes of Proteobacteria showed a sharp succession along the salinity gradient. Both DGGE and RLB demonstrated that a few freshwater bacterial groups, e.g., GKS98 and LD2, appeared over wide salinity ranges. Six freshwater isolates affiliated with the GKS98 cluster grew in ecophysiological experiments at maximum salinities of 0.3% to 0.7% (oligosaline), while this group was detected in habitats with salinities up to 6.7% (hypersaline). This observation indicated ecologically significant differences in ecophysiological adaptations among members of this narrow phylogenetic group and suggested ecological significance of microdiversity.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Institute for Limnology, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Mondseestrasse 9, A-5310 Mondsee, Austria. Phone: 43 6232 3125 29. Fax: 43 6232 3578. E-mail: martin.hahn{at}oeaw.ac.at.

{dagger} Supplemental material for this article may be found at http://aem.asm.org/.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, August 2006, p. 5478-5485, Vol. 72, No. 8
0099-2240/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.00767-06
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Hahn, M. W., Schauer, M. (2007). 'Candidatus Aquirestis calciphila' and 'Candidatus Haliscomenobacter calcifugiens', filamentous, planktonic bacteria inhabiting natural lakes. Int. J. Syst. Evol. Microbiol. 57: 936-940 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


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