title: The effect of heavy metal contamination on the bacterial community structure at Jiaozhou Bay, China.
abstract: In this study, determination of heavy metal parameters and microbiological characterization of marine sediments obtained from two heavily polluted sites and one low-grade contaminated reference station at Jiaozhou Bay in China were carried out. The microbial communities found in the sampled marine sediments were studied using PCR-DGGE (denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis) fingerprinting profiles in combination with multivariate analysis. Clustering analysis of DGGE and matrix of heavy metals displayed similar occurrence patterns. On this basis, 17 samples were classified into two clusters depending on the presence or absence of the high level contamination. Moreover, the cluster of highly contaminated samples was further classified into two sub-groups based on the stations of their origin. These results showed that the composition of the bacterial community is strongly influenced by heavy metal variables present in the sediments found in the Jiaozhou Bay. This study also suggested that metagenomic techniques such as PCR-DGGE fingerprinting in combination with multivariate analysis is an efficient method to examine the effect of metal contamination on the bacterial community structure.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Vegetable Crops, Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Horticultural Crop Genetic Improvement, Nanjing, China.
authors.forename: Xie-Feng
authors.initials: XF
authors.lastname: Yao
authors.affiliation: First Institute of Oceanography, State Oceanic Administration, Qingdao, China; Qingdao University of Science & Technology, Qingdao, China.
authors.forename: Jiu-Ming
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: First Institute of Oceanography, State Oceanic Administration, Qingdao, China; Qingdao University of Science & Technology, Qingdao, China. Electronic address: wshws68@126.com.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.affiliation: Nanjing Agricultural University, College of Plant Protection, Department of Plant Pathology, Nanjing, China. Electronic address: jhguo@njau.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Jian-Hua
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Guo
mesh_terms: D001419:Bacteria / Q000145:classification; D061006:Bays; D044822:Biodiversity; D002681:China; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D004777:Environment; D004783:Environmental Microbiology; D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D004787:Environmental Pollution; D019015:Geologic Sediments / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000382:microbiology*; D019216:Metals, Heavy
chemical_list: D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D019216:Metals, Heavy
keywords: Bacterial community structure; Heavy metal contamination; Multivariate analysis; PCR-DGGE fingerprinting