Detection of a reproducible, single-member shift in soil bacterial communities exposed to low levels of hydrogen.

ABSTRACT: Soil is exposed to hydrogen when symbiotic rhizobia in legume root nodules cannot recycle the hydrogen that is generated during nitrogen fixation. The hydrogen emitted is most likely taken up by free-living soil bacteria that use hydrogen as an energy source, though the bacteria that do this in situ remain unclear. In this study, we investigated the effect of hydrogen exposure on the bacteria of two different soils in a microcosm setup designed to simulate hydrogen-emitting root nodules. Although the size and overall composition of the soil bacterial community did not significantly alter after hydrogen exposure, one ribotype increased in relative abundance within each soil. This single-ribotype shift was identified by generating multiple terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T

SUBMITTER: Osborne CA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2832395 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature