Determination of the diversity of Rhodopirellula isolates from European seas by multilocus sequence analysis

Appl Environ Microbiol. 2010 Feb;76(3):776-85. doi: 10.1128/AEM.01525-09. Epub 2009 Nov 30.

Abstract

In the biogeography of microorganisms, the habitat size of an attached-living bacterium has never been investigated. We approached this theme with a multilocus sequence analysis (MLSA) study of new strains of Rhodopirellula sp., an attached-living planctomycete. The development of an MLSA for Rhodopirellula baltica enabled the characterization of the genetic diversity at the species level, beyond the resolution of the 16S rRNA gene. The alleles of the nine housekeeping genes acsA, guaA, trpE, purH, glpF, fumC, icd, glyA, and mdh indicated the presence of 13 genetically defined operational taxonomic units (OTUs) in our culture collection. The MLSA-based OTUs coincided with the taxonomic units defined by DNA-DNA hybridization experiments. BOX-PCR supported the MLSA-based differentiation of two closely related OTUs. This study established a taxon-area relationship of cultivable Rhodopirellula species. In European seas, three closely related species covered the Baltic Sea and the eastern North Sea, the North Atlantic region, and the southern North Sea to the Mediterranean. The last had regional genotypes, as revealed by BOX-PCR. This suggests a limited habitat size of attached-living Rhodopirellula species.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Bacteria / classification*
  • Bacteria / genetics
  • Bacteria / isolation & purification
  • Bacterial Typing Techniques
  • Bacteriological Techniques
  • Base Sequence
  • DNA Fingerprinting
  • DNA, Bacterial / chemistry
  • Gene Frequency
  • Genes, Bacterial
  • Genetic Loci
  • Genetic Variation
  • Genotype
  • Geologic Sediments
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • North Sea
  • Oceans and Seas
  • Phylogeny
  • Polymerase Chain Reaction
  • RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / genetics
  • Seawater / microbiology*
  • Sequence Analysis, DNA*
  • Species Specificity
  • Water Microbiology

Substances

  • DNA, Bacterial
  • RNA, Ribosomal, 16S

Associated data

  • GENBANK/GU254991
  • GENBANK/GU255465