PHYSIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY AND CHARACTERIZATION OF BENTHIC MICROAEROBIC BACTERIA

Abstract

Fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) of prokaryote cell membranes have been scarcely studied in free-living bacterial communities from aquatic ecosystem sediments. There is even less information on the microaerobic bacterial communities from suboxic areas of sediments or stratified water bodies. This paper reports the phenotypical and molecular diversity of FAME of 15 benthic microaerobic bacterial strains isolated from three Mexican aquatic ecosystems. A FAME profile analysis, amplification of segment 16S rDNA and physiological assays at different pO2 were performed. Two of the strains exhibited strict microaerobic metabolism and the other 13 had facultative microaerobic metabolism. The species identified were Caulobacter sp., Ochrobactrum anthropi, Sphingobium sp., Bacillus firmus, Bacillus sp., Pseudomonas stutzeri and Sphingomonas sp. Four fatty acids were characteristic of lagoon sediment strains (C20:4n6, C22:6n3 and C23:0) while three were of marine origin (C22:0, C22:1n9 and C24:0). Some are characteristic of one genus or species: C22:6n3 for Ochrobactrum anthropic; C6:0 for Caulobacter sp.; and C22:0 for Sphingobium sp. and Sphingobium amiense.

Keywords

• fatty acid methyl esters (FAME)
• heterotrophic bacteria
• 16S rDNA
• phenotypic characterization
• sediments