Extensive diversity of ionizing-radiation-resistant bacteria recovered from Sonoran Desert soil and description of nine new species of the genus Deinococcus obtained from a single soil sample.

ABSTRACT: The ionizing-radiation-resistant fractions of two soil bacterial communities were investigated by exposing an arid soil from the Sonoran Desert and a nonarid soil from a Louisiana forest to various doses of ionizing radiation using a (60)Co source. The numbers of surviving bacteria decreased as the dose of gamma radiation to which the soils were exposed increased. Bacterial isolates surviving doses of 30 kGy were recovered from the Sonoran Desert soil, while no isolates were recovered from the nonarid forest soil after exposure to doses greater than 13 kGy. The phylogenetic diversities of the surviving culturable bacteria were compared for the two soils using 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis. In addition to a bacterial population that was more resistant to higher doses of ionizing radiation

SUBMITTER: Rainey FA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1214641 | biostudies-literature | 2005 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature