Field-based stable isotope probing reveals the identities of benzoic acid-metabolizing microorganisms and their in situ growth in agricultural soil.

ABSTRACT: We used a combination of stable isotope probing (SIP), gas chromatography-mass spectrometry-based respiration, isolation/cultivation, and quantitative PCR procedures to discover the identity and in situ growth of soil microorganisms that metabolize benzoic acid. We added [(13)C]benzoic acid or [(12)C]benzoic acid (100 microg) once, four times, or five times at 2-day intervals to agricultural field plots. After monitoring (13)CO(2) evolution from the benzoic acid-dosed soil, field soils were harvested and used for nucleic acid extraction and for cultivation of benzoate-degrading bacteria. Exposure of soil to benzoate increased the number of culturable benzoate degraders compared to unamended soil, and exposure to benzoate shifted the dominant culturable benzoate degraders from Pseudomonas s

SUBMITTER: Pumphrey GM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2446519 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature