Seasonal and spatial community dynamics in the meromictic Lake Cadagno

The seasonal and spatial variations in the community structure of bacterioplankton in the meromictic alpine Lake Cadagno were examined by temporal temperature gradient gel electrophoresis (TTGE) of PCR-amplified 16S rDNA fragments. Two different amplifications were performed, one specific for the domain Bacteria (Escherichia coli positions 8-536) and another specific for the family Chromatiaceae (E. coli positions 8-1005). The latter was followed by semi-nested reamplification with the bacterial primer set, allowing comparison of the two PCR approaches by TTGE. The TTGE patterns of samples from the chemocline and the anoxic monimolimnion were essentially identical, whereas the oxic mixolimnion displayed distinctively different banding patterns. For samples from the chemocline and the monimolimnion, dominant bands in the Bacteria-specific TTGE profiles comigrated with bands obtained by the semi-nested PCR approach specific for Chromatiaceae. This observation suggested that Chromatiaceae are in high abundance in the anoxic water layer. All dominant bands were excised and sequenced. Changes in the community structure, as indicated by changes in the TTGE profiles, were observed in samples taken at different times of the year. In the chemocline, Chomatium okenii was dominant in the summer months, whereas Amoebobacter purpureus populations dominated in autumn and winter. This change was confirmed by fluorescent in situ hybridization.

Bacterial diversity and community composition in the chemocline of the meromictic alpine Lake Cadagno as revealed by 16S rDNA analysis

Using different techniques of molecular biology we investigated the bacterial diversity of the chemocline of the meromictic Lake Cadagno. Cloning of a total community 16S rDNA PCR product and subsequent screening with a combination of amplified ribosomal DNA restriction analysis and temporal temperature gradient gel electrophoresis (TTGE) analysis revealed that 30 of 47 randomly selected clones were unique. Partial sequencing and comparative analysis indicated a high bacterial diversity dominated by the gamma-Proteobacteria (33.3%). Most of these rDNA clone sequences were not closely related to any 16S rDNA sequence in the database. In a second approach, the TTGE pattern from an environmental sample was compared with the migration of the cloned 16S rDNA fragments. Four clone types were identified on the environmental pattern by excising and sequencing comigrating bands, three of which were well represented in the library: two Chromatiaceae species and one sequence affiliated with the Desulfobulbus assemblage. Using the fluorescent in situ hybridization technique we essentially confirmed the results of the cloning experiments and the TTGE analysis.