Molecular analysis of the bacterial diversity in uranium mill tailings / Molekulare Analyse der bakteriellen Diversitaet in Uranabraumhalden

A culture-independent molecular approach has been applied to investigate the bacterial diversity in three uranium contaminated sites. The three analysed soil samples have been collected from the uranium waste pile Haberland near Johanngeorgenstadt (Germany), from the uranium mill tailings in Gunnison, Colorado (USA) and from the uranium mill tailings in Shiprock, New Mexico (USA). The 16S rDNA fragments which has been isolated through direct lysis of the whole-DNA were amplified by the use of the universal primers 16S_4_3_f and 16S_1_4_0_4_r and cloned. With restriction fragment length polymorphismus (RFLP) were the clones screened and one representative of all RFLP types that occurred more than once in the clone library was sequenced and analysed. In spite of the contamination a considerable diversity and significant differences in the composition of the natural bacterial communities in these three sites have been found. In the sample collected from the waste pile Haberland near Johanngeorgenstadt #alpha#-Proteobacteria and representatives of the Holophaga/Acidobacterium were numerically predominant. The distribution of bacteria in the sample collected from uranium mill tailings Gunnison was very similar to those found in the Haberland waste pile, but there were found besides #alpha#-Proteobacteria and representatives of Holophaga/Acidobacterium a lot of #gamma#-Proteobacteria. The structure of the bacterial community in the sample collected from the uranium mill tailings Shiprock was significantly different. Only some representatives of the Holophaga/Acidobacterium and #alpha#-Proteobacteria were represented. Large populations of Bacilli, #gamma#-Proteobacteria and green non sulfur bacteria were dominant in this sample. (orig.) / SIGLE / Available from TIB Hannover: RR 1847(377) / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische Informationsbibliothek / DE / Germany