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Investigation of bacterial diversity in Brazilian tropical estuarine sediments reveals high actinobacterial diversity

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Abstract

Phylogenetic and statistical analyses of 16S rRNA gene libraries were used for the investigation of actinobacterial communities present in two tropical estuarine sediments (Santos-São Vicente estuary, Brazil). The libraries were constructed from samples collected at the brackish end of the estuary, highly hydrocarbon-contaminated, and at the marine end, uncontaminated. Clones from the marine end of the estuary were all related to sequences from non-cultured Actinobacteria and unidentified bacteria recovered from a wide range of environmental samples, whereas clones from the brackish end were mainly related to sequences from cultured Actinobacteria. Statistical analyses showed that the community recovered from the hydrocarbon-contaminated sediment sample, at the brackish end, was less diverse than the uncontaminated one, at the marine end, and that the communities from the two libraries were differently structured, suggesting that these may have not originated from the same community. The recognition of the spatial pattern of actinobacterial distribution in a natural environment is a first step towards understanding the way these communities are organized, providing valuable data for further investigations of their taxonomic and functional diversity.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Microbial Resources Division, CPQBA, State University of Campinas (UNICAMP), PO Box 6171, CEP 13081-970, Campinas, SP, Brazil

    Fernanda Francischetti Piza & Gilson Paulo Manfio

  2. Environmental Research Centre NEPAM, State University of Campinas (UNICAMP), PO Box 6166, CEP 13084-971, Campinas, SP, Brazil

    Paulo Inácio Prado

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  1. Fernanda Francischetti Piza
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  2. Paulo Inácio Prado
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  3. Gilson Paulo Manfio
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Correspondence to Fernanda Francischetti Piza.

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Piza, F.F., Prado, P.I. & Manfio, G.P. Investigation of bacterial diversity in Brazilian tropical estuarine sediments reveals high actinobacterial diversity. Antonie Van Leeuwenhoek 86, 317–328 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10482-005-0162-0

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