title: Prokaryotic diversity in Aran-Bidgol salt lake, the largest hypersaline playa in Iran.
abstract: Prokaryotic diversity in Aran-Bidgol salt lake, a thalasohaline lake in Iran, was studied by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), cultivation techniques, denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) of PCR-amplified fragments of 16S rRNA genes and 16S rRNA gene clone library analysis. Viable counts obtained (2.5-4 × 10(6) cells mL(-1)) were similar to total cell abundance in the lake determined by DAPI direct count (3-4×10(7) cells mL(-1)). The proportion of Bacteria to Archaea in the community detectable by FISH was unexpectedly high and ranged between 1:3 and 1:2. We analyzed 101 archaeal isolates and found that most belonged to the genera Halorubrum (55%) and Haloarcula (18%). Eleven bacterial isolates obtained in pure culture were affiliated with the genera Salinibacter (18.7%), Salicola (18.7%) and Rhodovibrio (35.3%). Analysis of inserts of 100 clones from the eight 16S rRNA clone libraries constructed revealed 37 OTUs. The majority (63%) of these sequences were not related to any previously identified taxa. Within this sampling effort we most frequently retrieved phylotypes related to Halorhabdus (16% of archaeal sequences obtained) and Salinibacter (36% of bacterial sequences obtained). Other prokaryotic groups that were abundant included representatives of Haloquadratum, the anaerobic genera Halanaerobium and Halocella, purple sulfur bacteria of the genus Halorhodospira and Cyanobacteria.
authors.affiliation: Extremophile Laboratory, Department of Microbiology, School of Biology, College of Science, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Makhdoumi-Kakhki
authors.forename: Mohammad Ali
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Amoozegar
authors.forename: Bahram
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kazemi
authors.forename: Lejla
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Pašić
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ventosa
mesh_terms: D001105:Archaea / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000378:metabolism; D001419:Bacteria / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000378:metabolism; D044822:Biodiversity; D019641:DNA, Archaeal / Q000235:genetics; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D007492:Iran; D060106:Lakes / Q000382:microbiology*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics; D012965:Sodium Chloride / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D019641:DNA, Archaeal; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; D012965:Sodium Chloride