Prevalence of lysogeny among soil bacteria and presence of 16S rRNA and trzN genes in viral-community DNA.

ABSTRACT: Bacteriophages are very abundant in the biosphere, and viral infection is believed to affect the activity and genetic diversity of bacterial communities in aquatic environments. Lysogenic conversion, for example, can improve host fitness and lead to phage-mediated horizontal gene transfer. However, little is known about lysogeny and transduction in the soil environment. In this study we employed atrazine-impregnated Bio-Sep beads (a cell immobilization matrix) to sample active microbiota from soils with prior pesticide exposure history. Once recovered from soil, the bead communities were induced with mitomycin C (MC), and viral and bacterial abundances were determined to evaluate the incidence of inducible prophage in soil bacteria. The inducible fraction calculated within bead communities

SUBMITTER: Ghosh D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2223242 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature