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Respiratory and dissimilatory nitrate-reducing communities from an extreme saline alkaline soil of the former lake Texcoco (Mexico)

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Abstract

The diversity of the dissimilatory and respiratory nitrate-reducing communities was studied in two soils of the former lake Texcoco (Mexico). Genes encoding the membrane-bound nitrate reductase (narG) and the periplasmic nitrate reductase (napA) were used as functional markers. To investigate bacterial communities containing napA and narG in saline alkaline soils of the former lake Texcoco, libraries of the two sites were constructed (soil T3 with pH 11 and electrolytic conductivity in saturated extract (ECSE) 160 dS m−1 and soil T1 with pH 8.5 and ECSE 0.8 dS m−1). Phylogenetic analysis of napA sequences separated the clone families into two main groups: dependent or independent of NapB. Most of napA sequences from site T1 were grouped in the NapB-dependent clade, meanwhile most of the napA sequences from the extreme soil T3 were affiliated to the NapB-independent group. For both sites, partial narG sequences were associated with representatives of the Proteobacteria, Firmicutes and Actinobacteria phyla, but the proportions of the clones were different. Our results support the concept of a specific and complex nitrate-reducing community for each soil of the former lake Texcoco.

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Acknowledgments

The research was funded by “Secretaria de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales” (SEMARNAT) project SEMARNAT-2004-C01-257 and “Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología” (CONACYT) project SEP-1004-C01-479991.I·N. We thank Soledad Vásquez-Murrieta and Erick Ruiz-Romero for providing soil samples from Xochimilco and Texcoco and Francisco Javier Zavala de la Serna for revising the manuscript. R.A.-H. and C.V.-E. received grant-aided support from CONACYT.

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  1. Departamento de Biotecnología y Bioingeniería, Cinvestav, Campus Zacatenco, 07360, Mexico, Mexico

    Rocio J. Alcántara-Hernández, César Valenzuela-Encinas, Rodolfo Marsch & Luc Dendooven

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  1. Rocio J. Alcántara-Hernández
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  2. César Valenzuela-Encinas
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  3. Rodolfo Marsch
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  4. Luc Dendooven
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Correspondence to Luc Dendooven.

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Communicated by T. Matsunaga.

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Alcántara-Hernández, R.J., Valenzuela-Encinas, C., Marsch, R. et al. Respiratory and dissimilatory nitrate-reducing communities from an extreme saline alkaline soil of the former lake Texcoco (Mexico). Extremophiles 13, 169–178 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00792-008-0207-1

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