Title: Modifications of bacterial populations in anthracene contaminated soil
Abstract: Spiking soil with anthracene, a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon, inhibited soil microbial activity, so it remained to be seen if the bacterial population composition was affected. An initial PCR-DGGE analysis indicated that the bacterial population in the unamended soil was not affected by depth (0–2 cm, 2–8 cm and 8–15 cm) or incubation time (0, 14 or 28 days) while it changed in the contaminated soil over the time and after 28 days in the soil profile. A phylogenetic analysis was done of the uncontaminated soil at day 0, and in the 0–2 cm layer of the anthracene-spiked soil after 0, 14 and 28 days and in the 2–8 cm layer after 28 days. Sequences belonged to six different phyla, i.e. Acidobacteria, Actinobacteria, Chloroflexi, Gemmatimonadetes, Nitrospirae and Proteobacteria. However, 10% of the sequences remained as unclassified bacteria. Bacteria belonging to the Proteobacteria (63.2%) were always the most dominant followed by the Acidobacteria (22.8%) and the Gemmatimonadetes (3.6%). The percentage of Actinobacteria (4.1%), Chloroflexi (1.3%), and Nitrospirae (0.1%) was low and sequences belonging to these phyla were not always detected. Contaminating the soil had a momentaneous effect on the bacterial population as the percentage of Alphaproteobacteria, i.e. Sphingomonadales, and Gammaproteobacteria, i.e. the Xanthomonadales, reduced strongly while the percentage of Actinobacteria and Acidobacteria more than doubled. Already after 14 days, however, the percentage of Sphingomonadales, Actinobacteria and Acidobacteria was similar as in the unamended soil at day 0. After 28 days, the percentage of Burkholderiales and Xanthomonadales more than doubled in the 0–2 cm and 2–8 cm layer compared to the unamended soil at day 0. It was found that spiking soil with anthracene, incubation time and soil layer had an effect on the bacterial population, but the effect of the contaminant was transient and changes in the bacterial population with depth were only detectable in the contaminated soil after 28 days.
Publication Year: 2012
Publication Date: 2012-10-01
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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Cited By Count: 20
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