The bacteria and bacteriophages from a Mesquite Flats site of the Death Valley desert. - Archive ouverte HAL
Article Dans Une Revue Antonie van Leeuwenhoek Année : 2013

The bacteria and bacteriophages from a Mesquite Flats site of the Death Valley desert.

Résumé

Arid zones cover over 30 % of the Earth's continental surface. In order to better understand the role of microbes in this type of harsh environment, we isolated and characterized the bacteriophages from samples of the surface sand of the Mesquite Flats region via electron microscopy and DNA sequencing of a select number of cloned phage DNAs. An electron microscopic analysis of the recovered virus-like particles revealed at least 11 apparently different morphotypes sharing structural characteristics of the Caudoviridae family of tailed phages. We found that 36 % of the sequences contained no significant identity (e-value >10(-3)) with sequences in the databases. Pilot sequencing of cloned 16S rRNA genes identified Bacteroidetes and Proteobacteria as the major bacterial groups present in this severe environment. The majority of the 16S rDNA sequences from the total (uncultured) bacterial population displayed ≤96 % identity to 16S rRNA genes in the database, suggesting an unexplored bacterial population likely adapted to a desert environment. In addition, we also isolated and identified 38 cultivable bacterial strains, the majority of which belonged to the genus Bacillus. Mitomycin-C treatment of the cultivable bacteria demonstrated that the vast majority (84 %) contained at least one SOS-inducible prophage.

Dates et versions

hal-00832126 , version 1 (10-06-2013)

Identifiants

Citer

Eric Prestel, Christophe Regeard, Sylvie Salamitou, Julie Neveu, Michael S Dubow. The bacteria and bacteriophages from a Mesquite Flats site of the Death Valley desert.. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, 2013, 103 (6), pp.1329-41. ⟨10.1007/s10482-013-9914-4⟩. ⟨hal-00832126⟩
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