Aquatic Sciences Meeting, Albuquerque 2001

SS14 Microbial Diversity (Disciplinary Connections)

Date: Tuesday, February 13, 2001, Time: 10:15:00 AM

Location: Mesilla

Van Mooy, B, , School of Oceanography, University of Washington, Seattle, USA, bvm@ocean.washington.edu

Devol, A, H, School of Oceanography, University of Washington, Seattle, USA, devol@u.washington.edu

Keil, R, G, School of Oceanography, University of Washington, Seattle, USA, rickkeil@u.washington.edu

PLANKTONIC ARCHAEA AND BACTERIA IN A COASTAL BAY

Ribosomal RNA genes were analyzed from seawater collected at 5 and 110 meters depth in Puget Sound. Using domain-specific primers, libraries of 70 archaeal and 81 bacterial clones were constructed and their rDNA sequences were obtained. Most archaeal sequences (E. coli positions 21 to 958) were highly similar to Archaea previously identified in the marine environment supporting the idea that a few cosmopolitan phylotypes are ubiquitous in the sea. Euryarchaeotal (group II) and crenarchaeotal (group I) sequences were the majority in the surface and deep clone libraries respectively. The Bacteria were much more diverse than the Archaea, although members of the proteobacteria were dominant. Concurrent with these analyses, thymidine uptake rates were determined. We have been developing a molecular technique to determine which groups of uncultivated, marine prokaryotes may contribute to this measure of bacterial production. This technique if ultimately made quantitative, may offer the possibility of measuring the growth of specific groups of marine prokaryotes.

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Aquatic Sciences Meeting, Albuquerque 2001

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