Structural divergence of bacterial communities from functionally similar laboratory-scale vermicomposts assessed by PCR-CE-SSCP.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate bacterial community structure and dynamics in triplicate vermicomposts made from the same start-up material, along with certain physico-chemical changes.


RESULTS
The physico-chemical parameters (pH, temperature, carbon, nitrogen, soluble substances and cellulose) evolved similarly in the triplicate vermicomposts, indicating a steady function. The 16S bacterial gene abundance remained constant over time. To monitor changes in the bacterial community structure, fingerprinting based on capillary electrophoresis single-strand conformation polymorphism was employed. A rise in bacterial diversity occurred after precomposting and it remained stable during the maturation phase. However, a rapid shift in the structure of the bacterial community in the vermicompost replicates was noted at the beginning that stabilized with the process maturation. Multivariate analyses showed different patterns of bacterial community evolution in each vermicompost that did not correlate with the physico-chemical changes.


CONCLUSIONS
The broad-scale functions remained similar in the triplicates, with stable bacterial abundance and diversity despite fluctuation in the community structure.


CONCLUSIONS
This study has demonstrated that microbial fingerprinting with multivariate analysis can provide significant understanding of community structure and also clearly suggests that an ecosystem's efficacy could be the outcome of functional redundancy whereby a number of species carry out the same function.
Sen
B
B
Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, India.
Hamelin
J
J
Bru-Adan
V
V
Godon
J-J
JJ
Chandra
T S
TS
D000818:Animals; D001419:Bacteria / Q000235:genetics*; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis; D017753:Ecosystem; D019075:Electrophoresis, Capillary; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D018807:Polymorphism, Single-Stranded Conformational; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000032:analysis*; D012987:Soil / Q000032:analysis*; D012988:Soil Microbiology
D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; D012987:Soil