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Diversity and distribution of alkaliphilic psychrotolerant bacteria in the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau permafrost region

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Abstract

The Qinghai–Tibet Plateau represents a unique permafrost environment, being a result of high elevation caused by land uplift. And the urgency was that plateau permafrost was degrading rapidly under the current predicted climatic warming scenarios. Hence, the permafrost there was sampled to recover alkaliphilic bacteria populations. The viable bacteria on modified PYGV agar were varied between 102 and 105 CFU/g of dry soil. Forty-eight strains were gained from 18 samples. Through amplified ribosomal DNA restriction analysis (ARDRA) and phylogenetic analyses, these isolates fell into three categories: high G + C gram positive bacteria (82.3%), low G + C gram positive bacteria (7.2%), and gram negative α-proteobacteria (10.5%). The strains could grow at pH values ranging from 6.5 to 10.5 with optimum pH in the range of 9–9.5. Their growth temperatures were below 37°C and the optima ranging from 10 to 15°C. All strains grew well when NaCl concentration was below 15%. These results indicate that there are populations of nonhalophilic alkaliphilic psychrotolerant bacteria within the permafrost of the Qinhai-Tibet plateau. The abilities of many of the strains to produce extracellular protease, amylase and cellulase suggest that they might be of potential value for biotechnological exploitation.

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Acknowledgments

This work was funded by Natural Science Foundation of China (30570270, 90102003, J0130084), China Postdoctoral Fund and State Key Lab of Frozen Soil and Engineering, CAREERI, CAS (SKLFSE200305). CAS Knowledge Innovation Key Directional Program (KZCX3-SW-339). The authors wish to thank Wei Liu and Peng Zhao for their help. We also are grateful to Managing Editor Prof Frank Robb and five anonymous referees for suggestive comments and modification.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Life Sciences, Key Lab of Arid and Grassland Agrioecology of MOE, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, China

    Gaosen Zhang, Xiaojun Ma, Maoxing Dong, Huyuan Feng & Lizhe An

  2. Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, CAS, Lanzhou, 730000, China

    Fujun Niu, Huyuan Feng, Lizhe An & Guodong Cheng

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  1. Gaosen Zhang
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  2. Xiaojun Ma
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  4. Maoxing Dong
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  7. Guodong Cheng
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Correspondence to Huyuan Feng.

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Communicated by F. Robb.

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Zhang, G., Ma, X., Niu, F. et al. Diversity and distribution of alkaliphilic psychrotolerant bacteria in the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau permafrost region. Extremophiles 11, 415–424 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00792-006-0055-9

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