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| Musat, N; Werner, U; Kolb, S; Dodenhof, T; Knittel, K; van Beusekom, JEE; Dubilier, N; Amann, R: Microbial community structure of sandy intertidal sediments in the North Sea, Sylt-Romo Basin, Wadden Sea, Systematic and Applied Microbiology, 29, 333-348 (2006) | |
Abstract:
Molecular biological methods were used to investigate the microbial diversity and community structure in intertidal
sandy sediments near the island of Sylt (Wadden Sea) at a site which was characterized for transport and
mineralization rates in a parallel study (D. de Beer, F. Wenzho¨ fer, T. Ferdelman, S.E. Boehme, M. Huettel, J.E.E. van
Beusekom, M.E. Bo¨ ttcher, N. Musat, N. Dubilier, Transport and mineralization rates in North Sea sandy intertidal
sediments, Sylt-Romo Basin, Wadden Sea, Limnol. Oceanogr. 50 (2005) 113–127). Comparative 16S rRNA sequence
analysis revealed a high bacterial diversity. Most sequences retrieved by PCR with a general bacterial primer set were
affiliated with Bacteroidetes, Gammaproteobacteria, Deltaproteobacteria and the Pirellula cluster of Planctomycetales.
Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and slot-blot hybridization with group-specific rRNA-targeted
oligonucleotide probes were used to characterize the microbial community structure over depth (0–12 cm) and
seasons (March, July, October). We found high abundances of bacteria with total cell numbers up to 3109 cells ml1
and a clear seasonal variation, with higher values in July and October versus March. The microbial community was
dominated by members of the Planctomycetes, the Cytophaga/Flavobacterium group, Gammaproteobacteria, and
bacteria of the Desulfosarcina/Desulfococcus group. The high abundance (1.5107–1.8108 cells ml1 accounting for
3–19% of all cells) of presumably aerobic heterotrophic polymer-degrading planctomycetes is in line with the high
permeability, deep oxygen penetration, and the high rates of aerobic mineralization of algal biomass measured in the
sandy sediments by de Beer et al. (2005). The high and stable abundance of members of the Desulfosarcina/
Desulfococcus group, both over depth and season, suggests that these bacteria may play a more important role than
previously assumed based on low sulfate reduction rates in parallel cores (de Beer et al., 2005). |
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