Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Bacterial Diversity in Bohai Bay Solar Saltworks, China

  • Published:
Current Microbiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The microbiota in solar salterns plays an important role in salt production quantitatively and qualitatively. Bohai Bay coast is the major sea salt producing area in China. However, few ecological characterization studies of the Bohai Bay salt ponds, particularly of their microbial diversity, have been conducted. This study investigated the structure and diversity of the bacterial community in Hangu saltworks in response to environmental factors. The brine water was sampled from five selected saltponds within a salinity range of 5.0–19.3 % in May, July, and October, 2012. Phylogenetic analysis based on the denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) patterns of the PCR-amplified 16S rRNA gene fragment showed that, rather than pond salinity, especially the month of sampling influenced the structure of the bacterial community in the saltponds, which may be related to the water temperature or other factors fluctuating over the months. Moreover, canonical correspondence analysis of biological and physico-chemical parameters indicated that especially other environmental factors such as nitrogenous and phosphorous nutrient contents and pH structured the microbial community. The relatively high range-weighted richness index and Shannon–Wiener index (H′) observed in this study reflect the high level of richness and biodiversity present, though there were substantial fluctuations over the months and salinities of sampling. The fragment of 16S rRNA gene sequence recovered from DGGE bands indicated that the bacterial assemblage in Hangu Saltworks was dominated by members of γ-Proteobacteria (34 % of total sequences obtained), followed by Firmicutes (14 %) and Bacteroidetes (9 %).

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Antόn J, Rossellό-Mora R, Rodríguez-Valera F, Amann R (2000) Extremely halophilic bacteria in crystallizer ponds from solar salterns. Appl Environ Microbiol 66(7):3052–3057

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Antόn J, Oren A, Benlloch S, Rodríguez-Valera F, Amann R, Rossellό-Mora R (2001) Salinibacter ruber gen. nov., sp. nov., an new species of extremely halophilic Bacteria from saltern crystallizer ponds. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 52:485–491

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. APHA (1997) Standard methods for the examination of water and wastewater. American Public Health Association

  4. Benlloch S, López-López A, Casamayor EO, Øvreås L, Goddard V, Daae FL, Smerdon G, Massana R, Joint I, Thingstad F, Pedrós-Alió C, Rodríguez-Valera F (2002) Prokaryotic genetic diversity throughout the salinity gradient of a coastal solar saltern. Environ Microbiol 4:349–360

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Boon N, Top EM, Verstraete W, Siciliano SD (2003) Bioaugmentation as a tool to protect the structure and function of an activated-sludge microbial community against a 3-chloroaniline shock load. Appl Environ Microbiol 69(3):1511–1520

    Article  PubMed  CAS  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  6. Boujelben I, Gomariz M, Matínez-García M, Santos F, Peña A, López C, Antόn J, Maalej S (2012) Spatial and seasonal prokaryotic community dynamics in ponds of increasing salinity of Sfax solar saltern in Tunisia. Anton Leeuw 101(4):845–857

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Burns DG, Camakaris HM, Janssen PH, Dyall-Smith ML (2004) Combined use of cultivation-dependent and cultivation-independent methods indicate that members of most haloarchaeal groups in an Australian crystallizer pond are cultivable. Appl Environ Microbiol 70(9):5258–5265

    Article  PubMed  CAS  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  8. Crump BC, Hopkinson CS, Sogin M, Hobbie JE (2004) Microbial biogeography along an estuarine salinity gradient: combined influences of bacterial growth and residence time. Appl Environ Microbiol 70(3):1494–1505

    Article  PubMed  CAS  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  9. Deng YG, Dong JG, Huang QY, Sui LY (2014) Ecological characteristics of phytoplankton in Hangu Saltworks. Chin J Ecol 33(4):959–965 (In Chinese with English abstract)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Deng YG, Xu GC, Sui LY (2015) Isolation and characterization of halophilic bacteria and archaea from salt ponds in Hangu Saltworks, Tianjin, China. Chin J Oceanol Limnol 33(4):862–868

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Fromin N, Hamelin J, Tarnawski S (2002) Statistical analysis of denaturing gel electrophoresis (DGGE) fingerprinting patterns. Environ Microbiol 4(11):634–643

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Gomariz M, Martínez-García M, Santos F, Rodríguez F, Capella-Gutiérrez S, Gabaldόn T, Rossellό-Mόra R, Meseguer I, Antόn J (2015) From community approaches to single-cell genomics: the discovery of ubiquitous hyper-halophilic Bacteroidetes generalists. ISME J 9(1):16–31

    Article  PubMed  CAS  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  13. Javor BJ (2002) Industrial microbiology of solar salt production. J Ind Microbiol Biotechnol 28(1):42–47

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Jongman RHG, Ter Braak CJF, Van Tongeren OFR (1995) Data analysis in community and landscape ecology. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Book  Google Scholar 

  15. Maturrano L, Santos F, Rossellό-Mora R, Antón J (2006) Microbial diversity in Maras salterns, a hypersaline environment in the Peruvian Andes. Appl Environ Microbiol 72(6):3887–3895

    Article  PubMed  CAS  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  16. Manikandan M, Kannan VR, Pašić L (2009) Diversity of microorganisms in solar salterns of Tamil Nadu, India. World J Microbiol Biotechnol 25(6):1007–1017

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Marzorati M, Wittebolle L, Boon N, Daffonchio D, Verstraete W (2008) How to get more out of molecular fingerprints: practical tools for microbial ecology. Environ Microbiol 10(6):1571–1581

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Muthu MB, Martínez-García M, Santos F, Peña A, Guven K, Antón J (2008) Prokaryotic diversity in Tuz Lake, a hypersaline environment in Inland Turkey. FEMS Microbiol Ecol 65(3):474–483

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Muyzer GE, De Waal C, Uitterlinden AG (1993) Profiling of complex microbial populations by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis analysis of polymerase chain reaction-amplified genes coding for 16S rRNA. Appl Environ Microbiol 59(3):695–700

    PubMed  CAS  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  20. Oren A, Rodríguez-Valera F (2001) The contribution of halophilic bacteria to the red coloration of saltern crystallizer ponds. FEMS Microbiol Ecol 36(2–3):123–130

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Oren A (2002) Diversity of halophilic microorganisms: environments, phylogeny, physiology, and application. J Ind Microbiol Biotechnol 28(1):237–243

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Oren A (2008) Microbial life at high salt concentrations: phylogenetic and metabolic diversity. Saline Syst. doi:10.1186/1746-1448-4-2

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  23. Wang XY, Yang HS, Sun JS, Wang Q (2011) Distribution of nutrients and eutrophication assessment in Tianjin coastal area. Chin J Mar Sci 39(9):56–61 (In Chinese with English abstract)

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Yeon SH, Jeong WJ, Park JS (2005) The diversity of culturable organotrophic bacteria from local solar salterns. J Microbiol 43(1):1–10

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the International Cooperation Research Program of the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (2010DFA32300), Natural Science Foundation of Tianjin City (13JCZDJC28700), Training Program for Changjiang Scholars and Innovative Research Team in University (2013-373), and the Pilot Project for International Cooperation funded by the Province of East-Flanders, Belgium.

Author information

Author notes

    Authors and Affiliations

    1. Tianjin Key Laboratory of Marine Resources and Chemistry, College of Marine and Environmental Science, Tianjin University of Science and Technology, Tianjin, 300457, China

      Jiaojiao Zhang, Guannan Ma, Yuangao Deng, Jinggang Dong & Liying Sui

    2. Laboratory of Aquaculture and Artemia Reference Center, Ghent University, 9000, Ghent, Belgium

      Gilbert Van Stappen

    Authors
    1. Jiaojiao Zhang
      View author publications

      You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

    2. Guannan Ma
      View author publications

      You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

    3. Yuangao Deng
      View author publications

      You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

    4. Jinggang Dong
      View author publications

      You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

    5. Gilbert Van Stappen
      View author publications

      You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

    6. Liying Sui
      View author publications

      You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

    Corresponding author

    Correspondence to Liying Sui.

    Additional information

    Jiaojiao Zhang and Guannan Ma have contributed equally to the paper as first author.

    Rights and permissions

    Reprints and permissions

    About this article

    Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

    Cite this article

    Zhang, J., Ma, G., Deng, Y. et al. Bacterial Diversity in Bohai Bay Solar Saltworks, China. Curr Microbiol 72, 55–63 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00284-015-0916-5

    Download citation

    • Received:

    • Accepted:

    • Published:

    • Issue Date:

    • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00284-015-0916-5

    Keywords

    Search

    Navigation