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Soil microbial counts and identification of culturable bacteria in an extreme by arid zone

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Abstract

Sixteen samples of two soil cores (about 550 and 180 cm in depth) were drilled at intervals in the lower reach of Heihe river basin (northwest of China) in order to illustrate soil microbial characteristics and diversity of culturable bacteria in an extreme by arid environment. Soil water content, organic matter, total nitrogen, pH, direct cell counts, and culturable microorganism counts were evaluated. The total cell concentration was 19–1120/µg (i.e. 0.19–11.2 × 108 per g) soil, the culturable bacteria count being 0.2–10.9 per µg (i.e. 2 × 105–10.9 × 106 CFU/g) soil. The number of direct cell counts obtained by 4′,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole-staining or the cound of culturable microbes after enrichment with different media were statistically significantly correlated with soil organic matters, total nitrogen content, soil water content and surface vegetation; this partly explained the larger number in the deeper first core than in the shallower one. As part of identification of 228 colonies isolated from the two cores, thirty-two were selected for 16S rDNA amplification, sequencing and molecular identification. These 32 isolates were affiliated to 5 major groups of bacteria: α-Proteobacteria, β-Proteobacteria, λ-Proteobacteria, the high-G+C G+-bacteria, the low-G+C G−-bacteria, and theCytophaga-Flexibacter-Bacteroides group. Twenty-eight were rod- or short-rod shaped, which accounted for >87.5 % of all species; only 4 of 32 species were cocci (<12.5 %).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Frozen Soil and Engineering, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 730 000, Lanzhou, P.R. China

    Jianping Su, Yanqing Wu, Xiaojun Ma, Huyuan Feng & Yinghua Zhang

  2. School of Life Sciences, Key Laboratory of Arid and Grass Agro-Ecology of the Ministry of Education, Lanzhou University, 730 000, Lanzhou, P.R. China

    Xiaojun Ma, Gaosen Zhang & Huyuan Feng

Authors
  1. Jianping Su
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  2. Yanqing Wu
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  3. Xiaojun Ma
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  4. Gaosen Zhang
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  5. Huyuan Feng
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  6. Yinghua Zhang
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Correspondence to Huyuan Feng.

Additional information

This work was funded byNatural Science Foundation of China (no. 9010 2003),Knowledge-Innovation Projects of Chinese Academy of Sciences (KZCX1-09, KZCX1-10-03),China Postdoctoral Fund andState Key Laboratories of Frozen Soil and Engineering (CAREERI),Chinese Academy of Sciences (SKLFSE 200305).

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Su, J., Wu, Y., Ma, X. et al. Soil microbial counts and identification of culturable bacteria in an extreme by arid zone. Folia Microbiol 49, 423–429 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02931604

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