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Diversity of bacterial communities related to the nitrogen cycle in a coastal tropical bay

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Abstract

A culture-independent molecular phylogenetic analysis was carried out to study for the first time the diversity of bacterial ammonia monooxygenase subunit A (amoA) and nitrogenase reductase subunit H (nifH) genes from Urca inlet at Guanabara Bay in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Most bacterial amoA and nifH sequences exhibited identities of less than 95% to those in the GenBank database revealing that novel ammonia-oxidizing bacteria and nitrogen-fixing microorganisms may exist in this tropical marine environment. The observation of a large number of clones related to uncultured bacteria also indicates the necessity to describe these microorganisms and to develop new cultivation methodologies.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Luciana Andrade for discussion. The research was supported by Fundação Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ) and Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq). This study was conducted on the frame of Microbial Observatory of Rio de Janeiro—MORio.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, 21941-590, Brazil

    Alessandra M. Gonzalez, Ricardo P. Vieira & Rodolfo Paranhos

  2. Instituto de Microbiologia Prof. Paulo de Góes, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, 21941-590, Brazil

    Alessandra M. Gonzalez & Leda Mendonça-Hagler

  3. Instituto de Bioquímica Médica, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, 21941-590, Brazil

    Ricardo P. Vieira, Alexander M. Cardoso & Orlando B. Martins

  4. Instituto Nacional de Metrologia, Normalização e Qualidade Industrial, Diretoria de Programa, DIPRO, Av. Nossa Senhora das Graças, 50-prédio 6, Xerém, Duque de Caxias, RJ, 25250-020, Brazil

    Alexander M. Cardoso

  5. Instituto Nacional de Controle da Qualidade em Saúde, Rio de Janeiro, 21045-900, Brazil

    Maysa M. Clementino

  6. Departamento de Bioquímica, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, 20551-013, Brazil

    Rodolpho M. Albano

Authors
  1. Alessandra M. Gonzalez
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  2. Ricardo P. Vieira
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  3. Alexander M. Cardoso
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  4. Maysa M. Clementino
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  5. Rodolpho M. Albano
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  6. Leda Mendonça-Hagler
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  7. Orlando B. Martins
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  8. Rodolfo Paranhos
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alexander M. Cardoso.

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Gonzalez, A.M., Vieira, R.P., Cardoso, A.M. et al. Diversity of bacterial communities related to the nitrogen cycle in a coastal tropical bay. Mol Biol Rep 39, 3401–3407 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-011-1111-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-011-1111-9

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