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16SrRNA and enzymatic diversity of culturable bacteria from the sediments of oxygen minimum zone in the Arabian Sea

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Abstract

Sediment underlying the oxygen minimum zone of the eastern Arabian Sea is rich in organic matter. Bacteria in this sediment–water interface are of great ecological importance as they are responsible for decomposing, mineralizing and subsequent recycling of organic matter. This study has for the first time addressed the phylogenetic and functional description of culturable bacteria of this region. Genotypic characterization of the isolates using amplified rDNA restriction analysis (ARDRA) followed by 16SrRNA sequencing grouped them into various phylogenetic groups such as Firmicutes, Gammaproteobacteria, Low G+C Gram positive bacteria, Actinobacteria and unaffiliated bacteria. Among the enzyme activities, phosphatase was predominant (52%) and was associated with all the phylotypes followed by amylase (37%) and gelatinase (33%). These hydrolytic enzymes were expressed at a wide range of temperature and pH. Firmicutes expressed most of the hydrolytic activities, consistent with a role in degradation of organic matter. Multiple enzyme expression (≥3) was exhibited by Actinobacteria (100%), followed by unaffiliated group (62.5%) and Firmicutes (61.5%). Besides hydrolytic enzymes, the phylotypes also elaborated functional enzymes such as nitrate reductase and catalase (58 and 81% of the isolates, respectively). In the oxygen minimum zone, the diversity was high with 28 phylotypes. Culturable bacterial assemblages encountered were Bacillus sp., Halobacillus sp., Virgibacillus sp., Paenibacillus sp., Marinilactibacillus sp., Kytococcus sp., Micrococcus sp., Halomonas sp. and Alteromonas sp. The high diversity and high percentage of extracellular hydrolytic enzyme activities of the culturable bacteria reflect their important ecological role in biogeochemical cycling of organic matter in the oxygen minimum zone.

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Abbreviations

OMZ:

Oxygen minimum zone

AS:

Arabian Sea

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Acknowledgements

We thank the captain and crew of FORV Sagar Sampada for the help rendered in collection of samples. We would like to thank the referee for the valuable suggestions which has improved the quality of the manuscript. We are grateful Dr. C. T. Achuthankutty, Visiting Scientist, National Centre for Antarctic Ocean Research (NCAOR) Goa, for critically reading the Manuscript and Dr. A. Parvathi, Scientist, National Institute of Oceanography, Regional Centre (NIO, RC), Kochi for suggestions in ARDRA analysis. Ms. Neenu Tom and Ms. Jiya Jose of the National Institute of Oceanography, Regional Centre, Kochi are acknowledged for their help in laboratory experiments. This work was supported by Central Marine Living Resources Exploration (CMLRE), Kochi and laboratory facilities were extended by the Marine Microbial Reference Facility of NIO RC, Kochi funded by the Ministry of Earth Sciences, New Delhi. BD thanks Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, New Delhi, for the Senior Research Fellowship. This is NIO contribution No. 4692.

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  1. Microbiology Laboratory, National Institute of Oceanography, Dona Paula, 403 004, Goa, India

    Baby Divya, K. V. Soumya & Shanta Nair

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  1. Baby Divya
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Divya, B., Soumya, K.V. & Nair, S. 16SrRNA and enzymatic diversity of culturable bacteria from the sediments of oxygen minimum zone in the Arabian Sea. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek 98, 9–18 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10482-010-9423-7

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