Molecular and culture-based analyses of prokaryotic communities from an agricultural soil and the burrows and casts of the earthworm Lumbricus rubellus.

ABSTRACT: The microbial populations in no-till agricultural soil and casts of the earthworm Lumbricus rubellus were examined by culturing and molecular methods. Clone libraries of the 16S rRNA genes were prepared from DNA isolated directly from the soil and earthworm casts. Although no single phylum dominated the soil library of 95 clones, the largest numbers of clones were from Acidobacteria (14%), Cytophagales (13%), Chloroflexi (8%), and gamma-Proteobacteria (8%). While the cast clone library of 102 clones was similar to the soil library, the abundances of several taxa were different. Representatives of the Pseudomonas genus as well as the Actinobacteria and Firmicutes increased in number, and one group of unclassified organisms found in the soil library was absent in the cast library. Likewise,

SUBMITTER: Furlong MA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC123750 | biostudies-literature | 2002 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature