Mj. Ferris et al., DENATURING GRADIENT GEL-ELECTROPHORESIS PROFILES OF 16S RIBOSOMAL-RNA-DEFINED POPULATIONS INHABITING A HOT-SPRING MICROBIAL MAT COMMUNITY, Applied and environmental microbiology, 62(2), 1996, pp. 340-346
Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) of PCR-amplified 16S rR
NA gene segments was used to profile microbial populations inhabiting
different temperature regions in the microbial mat community of Octopu
s Spring, Yellowstone National Park. DGGE allowed a rapid evaluation o
f the distributions of amplifiable sequence types. Profiles were essen
tially identical within regions of the mat defined by one temperature
range but varied between sites with different temperature ranges, Indi
vidual DGGE bands were sequenced, and the sequences were compared with
those previously obtained from the mat by cloning and from cultivated
Octopus Spring isolates. Two known cyanobacterial populations and one
known green nonsulfur bacterium-like population were detected by DGGE
, as were many new cyanobacterial and green nonsulfur and green sulfur
bacterium-like populations and a novel bacterial population of uncert
ain phylogenetic affiliation. The distributions of several cyanobacter
ial populations compared favorably with results obtained previously by
oligonucleotide probe analyses and suggest that adaptation to tempera
ture has occurred among cyanobacteria which are phylogenetically very
similar.