Bacterial diversity in water samples from uranium wastes as demonstrated by 16S rDNA and RISA retrievals


Bacterial diversity in water samples from uranium wastes as demonstrated by 16S rDNA and RISA retrievals

Radeva, G.; Selenska-Pobell, S.

Bacterial diversity was assessed in water samples collected from several uranium mining wastes in Germany and in the USA by using 16S rDNA and RISA retrievals.
The results obtained using the 16S rDNA retrieval showed that the samples collected from the uranium mill tailings Schlema/Alberoda, Germany, were predominated by Nitrospina-like bacteria, whereas those from the mill tailings Shiprock, New Mexico, USA, were predominated by g-Pseudomonas and Frateuria spp. Additional smaller populations of CFB, a-, and d-proteobacteria were identified in the Shiprock samples as well. Proteobacteria and CFB were also predominant in the third uranium mill tailings studied, Gittersee/Coschütz in Germany, but the groups of the predominant clones were rather small. Most of the clones of the Gittersee/Coschütz samples represented individual sequences that indicated a high level of bacterial diversity. The samples from the fourth uranium waste studied, namely Steinsee Deponie B1 in Germany, were predominantly occupied by Acinetobacter spp.
The RISA retrieval provided results complementary to those obtained by the 16S rDNA analyses. For instance, in the Shiprock samples an additional predominant bacterial group was identified and affiliated to Nitrosomonas sp., whereas in the Gittersee/Coschütz samples Anammox-populations were identified which were not retrieved by the used 16S rDNA approach.

Keywords: bacterial diversity; 16S rDNA; ribosomal intergenic spacer amplification (RISA); uranium wastes

  • Canadian Journal of Microbiology 51(2005)11, 910 - 923

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Publ.-Id: 6323