title: The occurrence of coliform bacteria in the cave waters of Slovak Karst, Slovakia.
abstract: The diversity and abundance of coliform bacteria (taxonomically enterobacterias), an important quality water indicator, were determined for four representative caves in Slovak Karst: Domica Cave, Gombasecká Cave, Milada Cave and Krásnohorská Cave. Three hundred and fifty-two enterobacterial isolates were successfully identified by biochemical testing (commercial ENTEROtest 24) and selected isolates confirmed by molecular techniques (PCR, 16S rDNA sequence analysis). A total of 39 enterobacterial species were isolated from cave waters, with predominance of Escherichia coli, Serratia spp. and Enterobacter spp. PCR amplification of lacZ gene is not specific enough to provide a reliable detection of coliform bacteria isolated from the environment. Sequence analysis of 16S rDNA confirmed that all of the selected isolates belong to the family Enterobacteriaceae. In general, physical and chemical parameters of cave waters in Slovak Karst corresponded to national drinking water quality standards.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology, Faculty of Natural Science, Comenius University in Bratislava, Mlynská dolina, 842 15, Bratislava, Slovak Republic, seman.mikro@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Milan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Seman
authors.forename: Barbora
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Gaálová
authors.forename: Marianna
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cíchová
authors.forename: Miloslava
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Prokšová
authors.forename: Dagmar
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Haviarová
authors.forename: Renáta
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Fľaková
mesh_terms: D001419:Bacteria / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D059552:Caves / Q000382:microbiology*; D004777:Environment; D005618:Fresh Water / Q000382:microbiology*; D010802:Phylogeny; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D018154:Slovakia