title: Abundance and community of snow bacteria from three glaciers in the Tibetan Plateau.
abstract: Bacterial abundance and diversity in snow of East Rongbuk, Laohugou and Hailuogou glaciers on the Tibetan Plateau were investigated through epifluorescence microscope and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis. Cell abundance ranged from 4.0 x 10(3) to 290.2 x 10(3) cells/mL. The phylogenetic trees placed the 16S rRNA sequences in four major groups: Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, Actinobacteria and Bacteroidetes. Brevundimonas, Flavobacterium, Hymenobacter, Bacillus, Polaromonas, Rhodoferax and Streptomyces were widely distributed bacteria in glaciers from different cold regions. The remaining five genera of Hylemonella, Delftia, Zoogloea, Blastococcus and Rhodococcus were endemism, only recovered from our investigated glaciers. It is proposed that the three glaciers on the Tibetan Plateau provide a specific ecological niche for prolonging survival of diverse microbial lineages.
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Science, Shangqiu Normal University, Shangqiu 476000, China. mariazhangsh@yahoo.com.cn
authors.forename: Shuhong
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Guangli
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Yetang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Shugui
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hou
mesh_terms: D039903:Actinobacteria / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D001419:Bacteria / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D041963:Bacteroidetes / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics; D058645:Denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis; D046448:Ice Cover / Q000382:microbiology*; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence; D010802:Phylogeny; D020560:Proteobacteria / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics; D012914:Snow / Q000382:microbiology*; D018609:Tibet
chemical_list: D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S