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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, September 1999, p. 4155-4162, Vol. 65, No. 9
0099-2240/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Use of Molecular and Isotopic Techniques To Monitor
the Response of Autotrophic Ammonia-Oxidizing Populations of the
Subdivision of the Class Proteobacteria in Arable Soils to
Nitrogen Fertilizer
T. A.
Mendum,1,2,*
R. E.
Sockett,2 and
P.
R.
Hirsch1
IACR
Rothamsted, Harpenden, Hertfordshire
AL5 2JQ,1 and Institute of Genetics,
Queens Medical Centre, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7
2UH,2 United Kingdom
Received 15 April 1999/Accepted 9 July 1999
This study examined the effects of NH4NO3
fertilizer on the size and activity of nitrifying, autotrophic,
ammonia-oxidizing populations of the
subdivision of the class
Proteobacteria in arable soils. Plots under different
long-term fertilizer regimes were sampled before and after
NH4NO3 additions, and the rates of
nitrification were determined by 15N isotopic pool dilution
assays. Ammonia-oxidizing populations in the plots were quantified by
competitive PCR assays based on the amoA and ribosomal 16S
genes. Prior to fertilizer addition, ammonium concentrations and
nitrification rates in the plots were comparatively low;
ammonia-oxidizing populations were present at 104 to
105 gene copies g of soil
1. Three days after
the application of fertilizer, nitrification rates had risen
considerably but the size of the ammonia-oxidizing population was
unchanged. Six weeks after fertilizer treatment, ammonium
concentrations and nitrification rates had fallen while the
ammonia-oxidizing populations in plots receiving fertilizer had
increased. The rapidity of the rise in nitrification rates observed
after 3 days suggests that it results from phenotypic changes in the
ammonia-oxidizing bacterial population. Associated increases in
population sizes were only observed after 6 weeks and did not correlate
directly with nitrifying activity. Phylogenetic analyses of PCR
products from one of the plots revealed a population dominated by
Nitrosospira-type organisms, similar to those prevalent in
other soils.
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Soil Science
Department, IACR
Rothamsted, Harpenden, Hertfordshire AL5 2JQ, United Kingdom. Phone: 44 (0) 1582 763133. Fax: 44 (0) 1582 760981. E-mail: tom.mendum{at}bbsrc.ac.uk.
Applied and Environmental Microbiology, September 1999, p. 4155-4162, Vol. 65, No. 9
0099-2240/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
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