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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, November 2003, p. 6808-6815, Vol. 69, No. 11
0099-2240/03/$08.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/AEM.69.11.6808-6815.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Wenping Hu,1 Athol V. Klieve,2 Diane Ouwerkerk,2 Monica A. Sundset,3 and Yoichi Kamagata4
Department of Animal Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801,1 Queensland Beef Industry Institute, Queensland Department of Primary Industries, Moorooka, Queensland 4105, Australia,2 Department of Arctic Biology and Institute of Medical Biology, University of Tromsø, N-9037 Tromsø, Norway,3 National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8566, Japan4
Received 24 March 2003/ Accepted 1 September 2003
The ecology of the uncultured, but large and morphologically conspicuous, rumen bacterium Oscillospira spp. was studied. Oscillospira-specific 16S rRNA gene sequences were detected in North American domestic cattle, sheep from Australia and Japan, and Norwegian reindeer. Phylogenetic analysis of the sequences obtained allowed definition of three operational taxonomic units within the Oscillospira clade. Consistent with this genetic diversity, we observed atypical smaller morphotypes by using an Oscillospira-specific fluorescence in situ hybridization probe. Despite the visual disappearance of typical large Oscillospira morphotypes, the presence of Oscillospira spp. was still detected by Oscillospira-specific PCR in the rumen of cattle and sheep. These observations suggest the broad presence of Oscillospira species in various rumen ecosystems with the level, and most likely the morphological form, dependent on diet. An ecological analysis based on enumeration of the morphologically conspicuous, large-septate form confirms that the highest counts are associated with the feeding of fresh forage diets to cattle and sheep and in two different subspecies of reindeer investigated.
Present address: Rowett Research Institute, Bucksburn, Aberdeen AB2 9SB, United Kingdom.
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