This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Supplemental material
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow E-mail this article to a friend
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 Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Tas, N.
Right arrow Articles by Smidt, H.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Tas, N.
Right arrow Articles by Smidt, H.
Agricola
Right arrow Articles by Tas, N.
Right arrow Articles by Smidt, H.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, July 2009, p. 4696-4704, Vol. 75, No. 14
0099-2240/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.02829-08
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Tracking Functional Guilds: "Dehalococcoides" spp. in European River Basins Contaminated with Hexachlorobenzene{triangledown} ,{dagger}

Neslihan Tas,1,{ddagger} Miriam H. A. van Eekert,1,§ Gosse Schraa,1 Jizhong Zhou,2 Willem M. de Vos,1 and Hauke Smidt1*

Laboratory of Microbiology, Wageningen University, Dreijenplein 10, 6703 HB Wageningen, The Netherlands,1 Institute for Environmental Genomics and Department of Botany and Microbiology, University of Oklahoma, 101 David L. Boren Blvd., Norman, Oklahoma 730192

Received 14 December 2008/ Accepted 13 April 2009

Hexachlorobenzene (HCB) has been widely used in chemical manufacturing processes and as a pesticide. Due to its resistance to biological degradation, HCB has mainly accumulated in freshwater bodies and agricultural soils. "Dehalococcoides" spp., anaerobic dechlorinating bacteria that are capable of degrading HCB, were previously isolated from river sediments. Yet there is limited knowledge about the abundance, diversity, and activity of this genus in the environment. This study focused on the molecular analysis of the composition and abundance of active Dehalococcoides spp. in HCB-contaminated European river basins. 16S rRNA-based real-time quantitative PCR and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis in combination with multivariate statistics were applied. Moreover, a functional gene array was used to determine reductive dehalogenase (rdh) gene diversity. Spatial and temporal fluctuations were observed not only in the abundance of Dehalococcoides spp. but also in the composition of the populations and rdh gene diversity. Multivariate statistics revealed that Dehalococcoides sp. abundance is primarily affected by spatial differences, whereas species composition is under the influence of several environmental parameters, such as seasonal changes, total organic carbon and/or nitrogen content, and HCB contamination. This study provides new insight into the natural occurrence and dynamics of active Dehalococcoides spp. in HCB-contaminated river basins.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Laboratory of Microbiology, Wageningen University, Dreijenplein 10, 6703 HB Wageningen, The Netherlands. Phone: (31) 317 483102. Fax: (31) 317 483829. E-mail: hauke.smidt{at}wur.nl

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 17 April 2009.

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

{ddagger} Present address: Department of Molecular Cell Physiology, Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1085, NL-1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

§ Present address: Lettinga Associates Foundation (LeAF), Bomenweg 2, NL-6703 HD Wageningen, The Netherlands.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, July 2009, p. 4696-4704, Vol. 75, No. 14
0099-2240/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.02829-08
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.





Copyright © 2010 by the American Society for Microbiology.   For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»