Bacterial diversity in the Uranium mill-tailings Gittersee as estimated via a 16S rDNA approach

Bacterial diversity in a soil sample collected from uranium mill-tailings called Gittersee and situated near the city of Dresden, Germany, was analysed by using a culture-independent 16S rDNA approach exploiting PCR amplification primers 7F and 1513R. The results were compared with those obtained earlier analysing the same sample by using another primer pair, namely 43F-1404R. The two 16S rDNA approaches demonstrated that Proteobacteria were the most predominant group in the sample, followed by Cytophaga/Flavobacterium/ Bacteroidesand by Gram positive bacteria with low and also with high G+C content too. A large number of 16S rDNA sequences from two libraries were identical or almost identical. However, the ratio between the bacterial groups represented in them significantly differed. 7F-1513R primer set retrieved in addition to the above mentioned sequences, also 16S rRNA of green non-sulphur bacteria and representatives of the AD1 and the OP11 divisions. The latter indicates that the 7F-1513R primer set seems to be more reliable in analyses of bacterial diversity. (authors)