TY - JOUR
T1 - Improving diversity in cultures of bacteria from an extreme environment
AU - Vester, Jan Kjølhede
AU - Glaring, Mikkel Andreas
AU - Stougaard, Peter
PY - 2013
Y1 - 2013
N2 - The ikaite columns in the Ikka Fjord in Greenland represent one of the few permanently cold and alkaline environments on Earth, and the interior of the columns is home to a bacterial community adapted to these extreme conditions. The community is characterized by low cell numbers imbedded in a calcium carbonate matrix, making extraction of bacterial cells and DNA a challenge and limiting molecular and genomic studies of this environment. To utilize this genetic resource, cultivation at high pH and low temperature was studied as a method for obtaining biomass and DNA from the fraction of this community that would not otherwise be amenable to genetic analyses. The diversity and community dynamics in mixed cultures of bacteria from ikaite columns was investigated using denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis and pyrosequencing of 16S rDNA. Both medium composition and incubation time influenced the diversity of the culture and many hitherto uncharacterized genera could be brought into culture by extended incubation time. Extended incubation time also gave rise to a more diverse community with a significant number of rare species not detected in the initial community.
AB - The ikaite columns in the Ikka Fjord in Greenland represent one of the few permanently cold and alkaline environments on Earth, and the interior of the columns is home to a bacterial community adapted to these extreme conditions. The community is characterized by low cell numbers imbedded in a calcium carbonate matrix, making extraction of bacterial cells and DNA a challenge and limiting molecular and genomic studies of this environment. To utilize this genetic resource, cultivation at high pH and low temperature was studied as a method for obtaining biomass and DNA from the fraction of this community that would not otherwise be amenable to genetic analyses. The diversity and community dynamics in mixed cultures of bacteria from ikaite columns was investigated using denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis and pyrosequencing of 16S rDNA. Both medium composition and incubation time influenced the diversity of the culture and many hitherto uncharacterized genera could be brought into culture by extended incubation time. Extended incubation time also gave rise to a more diverse community with a significant number of rare species not detected in the initial community.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84880783774&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1139/cjm-2013-0087
DO - 10.1139/cjm-2013-0087
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 23899002
AN - SCOPUS:84880783774
SN - 0008-4166
VL - 59
SP - 581
EP - 586
JO - Canadian Journal of Microbiology
JF - Canadian Journal of Microbiology
IS - 8
ER -