Molecular and metabolic characterization of cold-tolerant alpine soil Pseudomonas sensu stricto - PubMed (original) (raw)

Molecular and metabolic characterization of cold-tolerant alpine soil Pseudomonas sensu stricto

A F Meyer et al. Appl Environ Microbiol. 2004 Jan.

Abstract

Alpine soils undergo dramatic temporal changes in their microclimatic properties, suggesting that the bacteria there encounter uncommon shifting selection gradients. Pseudomonads constitute important members of the alpine soil community. In order to characterize the alpine Pseudomonas community and to assess the impact of shifting selection on this community, we examined the ability of cold-tolerant Pseudomonas isolates to grow on a variety of carbon sources, and we determined their phylogenetic relationships based on 16S ribosomal DNA sequencing. We found a high prevalence of Pseudomonas in our soil samples, and isolates from these soils exhibited extensive metabolic diversity. In addition, our data revealed that many of our isolates form a unique cold-adapted clade, representatives of which are also found in the Swedish tundra and Antarctica. Our data also show a lack of concordance between the metabolic properties and 16S phylogeny, indicating that the metabolic diversity of these organisms cannot be predicted by phylogeny.

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Figures

FIG. 1.

FIG. 1.

MPNs of cells per gram (dry weight) of soil from a Kobresia alpine meadow on three dates (month/day/year) in autumn and winter. Yellow cells were those showing visible yellow fluorescence. Error bars represent 95% confidence intervals.

FIG. 2.

FIG. 2.

Bayesian phylogenetic tree of 16S rDNA sequences of our 17 isolates and selected Pseudomonas (sensu stricto) sequences obtained from GenBank. Posterior probability values of 95% or greater are noted. The tree was rooted with P. flavescens, which gave the same topology as Escherichia coli. GenBank accession numbers: P. aeruginosa, Z76651; P. balearica, U26418; “P. borealis,” AJ012712; P. cichorii, Z76658; P. flavescens, U01916; P. fluorescens, Z76662; P. mendocina, Z76664; P. putida, Z76667; and P. syringae, Z76669.

FIG. 3.

FIG. 3.

Frequency of growth on carbon sources. Seventeen cold-tolerant alpine isolates were tested for their ability to grow on 20 C sources. All isolates grew on at least one C source tested. Frequencies of growth on C sources ranged from 25 to 90%.

FIG. 4.

FIG. 4.

Frequency of utilization of carbon sources. Frequencies ranged from 30 to 100%. The phenolic category supported growth the least, and the amino acid and protein categories supported growth the most.

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