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Trophic status determines the nirS-denitrifier community in shallow freshwater lakes

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Abstract

To explore whether trophic status is involved in identifying the denitrifier communities in shallow freshwater lakes, comparative studies regarding the variation of nirS-denitrifier communities were performed in water columns of six shallow freshwater lakes, ranging from mesotrophic to hypereutrophic status, in Jiangsu province of China. Restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis and cloning, followed by sequence analysis of selected samples were performed to examine the nirS-denitrifier communities. Results showed that a same predominant nirS unique operational taxonomic unit (OTU) appeared in mesotrophic, light eutrophic and middle eutrophic lakes, while a different nirS OTU appeared in the hypereutrophic lake. The nirS dendrogram could be divided into four clusters, and suggested a habitat-specific observation. The nirS libraries from lakes having mesotrophic and light eutrophic statuses grouped together, while those from lakes having middle eutrophic and hypereutrophic statuses diverged. The hypereutrophic lake had the lowest richness and evenness of nirS. Thus, the observed variation of nirS distribution and diversity was mainly affected by the trophic status, via some environmental factors such as pH, dissolved oxygen, nitrite, nitrate and chlorophyll-a concentrations.

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Acknowledgement

This work was supported by grants from the National Special Program of Water Environment (2012ZX07101006) and the National Basic Research Program of China (2008CB418102).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of the Environment, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210023, China

    Liyun Guo, Zhixin Hu, Fei Fang, Tao Liu, Xiaoming Chuai & Liuyan Yang

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  1. Liyun Guo
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  2. Zhixin Hu
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  3. Fei Fang
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  4. Tao Liu
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Correspondence to Liuyan Yang.

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Guo, L., Hu, Z., Fang, F. et al. Trophic status determines the nirS-denitrifier community in shallow freshwater lakes. Ann Microbiol 64, 999–1006 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13213-013-0737-3

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