Journal article
Bacterial community profiles from sediments of the Anacostia River using metabolic and molecular analyses
Environmental science and pollution research international, v 19(4), pp 1271-1279
01 May 2012
PMID: 22081372
Featured in Collection : UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
Abstract
Though the tidal Anacostia River, a highly polluted riverine system, has been well characterized with regard to contaminants, its overall resident bacterial populations have remained largely unknown. Improving the health of this system will rely upon enhanced understanding of the diversity and functions of these communities. Bacterial DNA was extracted from archived (AR, year 2000) and fresh sediments (RE, year 2006) collected from various locations within the Anacostia River. Using a combination of metabolic and molecular techniques, community snapshots of sediment bacterial diversity and activity were produced.
Employing Biolog EcoPlates, metabolic analysis of RE sediments from July revealed similar utilization of amines, amino acids, carbohydrates, carboxylic acids, and polymers at all sites. Normalized optical density measurements demonstrated that for most compounds, utilizations were similar though when differences did occur, the downstream site was enhanced compared to one or both of the upstream sites. Using denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis, bacterial diversity fingerprints of operational taxonomic units (OTUs) were obtained. Dendograms of the banding patterns revealed qualitative relationships as well as differences between replicate samples from similar sites. Replicates from the AR sites shared several common OTUs, while RE sites were more varied. Species richness and Shannon diversity indices generally increased with increasingly downstream locations, and were significant for the AR sediments (analysis of variance, P < 0.0001). Carbon and nitrogen content and concentration of fine grain sediment (< 63 mu m) were positively correlated with OTU richness (r (2) = 0.37, P = 0.0008; r (2) = 0.45, P < 0.0001; r (2) = 0.48, P = 0.001, respectively).
This study demonstrated that the bacterial communities from all regions sampled were not only metabolically active with the capacity to utilize several different compounds as energy sources but also were genetically diverse. This study is the first to focus on the overall bacterial community, providing insight into this vital component of stream ecosystems. Understanding the bacterial components of aquatic systems such as the Anacostia River will increase our knowledge of the overall structure and function of the ecological communities in polluted systems, subsequently enhancing our ability to improve the health of this important tidal river.
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Details
- Title
- Bacterial community profiles from sediments of the Anacostia River using metabolic and molecular analyses
- Creators
- Karen L. Bushaw-Newton - Northern Virginia Community CollegeEvan C. Ewers - Uniformed Services University of the Health SciencesDavid J. Velinsky - Center for Research in Environmental EpidemiologyJeffrey T. F. Ashley - Philadelphia UniversityStephen E. MacAvoy - American University
- Publication Details
- Environmental science and pollution research international, v 19(4), pp 1271-1279
- Publisher
- Springer Nature
- Number of pages
- 9
- Grant note
- US Geological Survey Water Resources Research Institute; United States Geological Survey American University
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Biodiversity, Earth, and Environmental Science (BEES)
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:000303547200031
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-84860510778
- Other Identifier
- 991019168667704721
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- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- Web of Science research areas
- Environmental Sciences