Bacterial community structure in the hyperarid core of the Atacama Desert, Chile.
Soils from the hyperarid Atacama Desert of northern Chile were sampled along an east-west elevational transect (23.75 to 24.70 degrees S) through the driest sector to compare the relative structure of bacterial communities. Analysis of denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) profiles from each of the samples revealed that microbial communities from the extreme hyperarid core of the desert clustered separately from all of the remaining communities. Bands sequenced from DGGE profiles of two samples taken at a 22-month interval from this core region revealed the presence of similar populations dominated by bacteria from the Gemmatimonadetes and Planctomycetes phyla.
Drees
Kevin P
KP
University of Arizona Department of Soil, Water, and Environmental Science, Shantz Building #38, Room 429, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA.
Neilson
Julia W
JW
Betancourt
Julio L
JL
Quade
Jay
J
Henderson
David A
DA
Pryor
Barry M
BM
Maier
Raina M
RM
D001419:Bacteria / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D002677:Chile; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis / Q000302:isolation & purification; D003889:Desert Climate; D017753:Ecosystem; D004587:Electrophoresis, Agar Gel / Q000379:methods; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D012987:Soil / Q000032:analysis; D012988:Soil Microbiology
D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; D012987:Soil