Daniel H. Buckley

T-REX: software for the processing and analysis of T-RFLP data.

BackgroundDespite increasing popularity and improvements in terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) and other microbial community fingerprinting techniques, there are still numerous obstacles that hamper the analysis of these datasets. Many steps are required to process raw data into a format ready for analysis and interpretation. These steps can be time-intensive, error-prone, and can introduce unwanted variability into the analysis. Accordingly, we developed T-REX, free, online software for the processing and analysis of T-RFLP data.ResultsAnalysis of T-RFLP data generated from a multiple-factorial study was performed with T-REX. With this software, we were able to i) label raw data with attributes related to the experimental design of the samples, ii) determine a baseline threshold for identification of true peaks over noise, iii) align terminal restriction fragments (T-RFs) in all samples (i.e., bin T-RFs), iv) construct a two-way data matrix from labeled data and process the matrix in a variety of ways, v) produce several measures of data matrix complexity, including the distribution of variance between main and interaction effects and sample heterogeneity, and vi) analyze a data matrix with the additive main effects and multiplicative interaction (AMMI) model.ConclusionT-REX provides a free, platform-independent tool to the research community that allows for an integrated, rapid, and more robust analysis of T-RFLP data.

The Structure of Microbial Communities in Soil and the Lasting Impact of Cultivation.

The structure of microbial communities was examined as a function of community composition and the relative abundance of specific microbial groups to examine the effects that plant community composition and land-use history have on microbial communities in the soil. The sites sampled were part of the Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) project in agricultural ecology at the W.K. Kellogg Biological Station of Michigan State University (Hickory Corners, MI) and included both active and abandoned agricultural fields as well as nearby fields that had never been cultivated. Microbial community structure was assessed by extracting total RNA from soil samples and using 16S rRNA-targeted oligonucleotide probes to quantify the abundance of rRNA from the alpha, beta, and gamma Proteobacteria, the Actinobacteria (Gram positive bacteria with a high mol % G+C genome), the Bacteria, and the Eukarya. In addition, soil microbial communities were characterized by examining fluorescently tagged terminal restriction fragment length polymorphisms (T-RFLP) in PCR amplified 16S rDNA. Microbial community structure was observed to be remarkably similar among plots that shared a long-term history of agricultural management despite differences in plant community composition and land management that have been maintained on the plots in recent years. In contrast, microbial community structure differed significantly between fields that had never been cultivated and those having a long-term history of cultivation.

Natural endophytic association between Rhizobium leguminosarum bv. trifolii and rice roots and assessment of its potential to promote rice growth

For over 7 centuries, production of rice (Oryza sativa L.) in Egypt has benefited from rotation with Egyptian berseem clover (Trifolium alexandrinum). The nitrogen supplied by this rotation replaces 25- 33% of the recommended rate of fertilizer-N application for rice production. This benefit to the rice cannot be explained solely by an increased availability of fixed N through mineralization of N- rich clover crop residues. Since rice normally supports a diverse microbial community of internal root colonists, we have examined the possibility that the clover symbiont, Rhizobium leguminosarum bv. trifolii colonizes rice roots endophytically in fields where these crops are rotated, and if so, whether this novel plant-microbe association benefits rice growth. MPN plant infection studies were performed on macerates of surface-sterilized rice roots inoculated on T. alexandrinum as the legume trap host. The results indicated that the root interior of rice grown in fields rotated with clover in the Nile Delta contained ∼106 clover-nodulating rhizobial endophytes g fresh weight of root. Plant tests plus microscopical, cultural, biochemical, and molecular structure studies indicated that the numerically dominant isolates of clover-nodulating rice endophytes represent 3 – 4 authentic strains of R. leguminosarum bv. trifolii that were Nod Fix on berseem clover. Pure cultures of selected strains were able to colonize the interior of rice roots grown under gnotobiotic conditions. These rice endophytes were reisolated from surface-sterilized roots and shown by molecular methods to be the same as the original inoculant strains, thus verifying Kochs postulates. Two endophytic strains of R. leguminosarum bv. trifolii significantly increased shoot and root growth of rice in growth chamber experiments, and grain yield plus agronomic fertilizer N-use efficiency of Giza-175 hybrid rice in a field inoculation experiment conducted in the Nile Delta. Thus, fields where rice has been grown in rotation with clover since antiquity contain Fix strains of R. leguminosarum bv. trifolii that naturally colonize the rice root interior, and these true rhizobial endophytes have the potential to promote rice growth and productivity under laboratory and field conditions.

A comprehensive evaluation of PCR primers to amplify the nifH gene of nitrogenase.

The nifH gene is the most widely sequenced marker gene used to identify nitrogen-fixing Bacteria and Archaea. Numerous PCR primers have been designed to amplify nifH, but a comprehensive evaluation of nifH PCR primers has not been performed. We performed an in silico analysis of the specificity and coverage of 51 universal and 35 group-specific nifH primers by using an aligned database of 23,847 nifH sequences. We found that there are 15 universal nifH primers that target 90% or more of nitrogen fixers, but that there are also 23 nifH primers that target less than 50% of nifH sequences. The nifH primers we evaluated vary in their phylogenetic bias and their ability to recover sequences from commonly sampled environments. In addition, many of these primers will amplify genes that do not mediate nitrogen fixation, and thus it would be advisable for researchers to screen their sequencing results for the presence of non-target genes before analysis. Universal primers that performed well in silico were tested empirically with soil samples and with genomic DNA from a phylogenetically diverse set of nitrogen-fixing strains. This analysis will be of great utility to those engaged in molecular analysis of nifH genes from isolates and environmental samples.

Evidence for the functional significance of diazotroph community structure in soil

Microbial ecologists continue to seek a greater understanding of the factors that govern the ecological significance of microbial community structure. Changes in community structure have been shown to have functional significance for processes that are mediated by a narrow spectrum of organisms, such as nitrification and denitrification, but in some cases, functional redundancy in the community seems to buffer microbial ecosystem processes. The functional significance of microbial community structure is frequently obscured by environmental variation and is hard to detect in short-term experiments. We examine the functional significance of free-living diazotrophs in a replicated long-term tillage experiment in which extraneous variation is minimized and N-fixation rates can be related to soil characteristics and diazotroph community structure. Soil characteristics were found to be primarily impacted by tillage management, whereas N-fixation rates and diazotroph community structure were impacted by both biomass management practices and interactions between tillage and biomass management. The data suggest that the variation in diazotroph community structure has a greater impact on N-fixation rates than do soil characteristics at the site. N-fixation rates displayed a saturating response to increases in diazotroph community diversity. These results show that the changes in the community structure of free-living diazotrophs in soils can have ecological significance and suggest that this response is related to a change in community diversity.

Stable Isotope Probing with 15N Achieved by Disentangling the Effects of Genome G+C Content and Isotope Enrichment on DNA Density

ABSTRACT Stable isotope probing (SIP) of nucleic acids is a powerful tool that can identify the functional capabilities of noncultivated microorganisms as they occur in microbial communities. While it has been suggested previously that nucleic acid SIP can be performed with 15N, nearly all applications of this technique to date have used 13C. Successful application of SIP using 15N-DNA (15N-DNA-SIP) has been limited, because the maximum shift in buoyant density that can be achieved in CsCl gradients is approximately 0.016 g ml−1 for 15N-labeled DNA, relative to 0.036 g ml−1 for 13C-labeled DNA. In contrast, variation in genome G+C content between microorganisms can result in DNA samples that vary in buoyant density by as much as 0.05 g ml−1. Thus, natural variation in genome G+C content in complex communities prevents the effective separation of 15N-labeled DNA from unlabeled DNA. We describe a method which disentangles the effects of isotope incorporation and genome G+C content on DNA buoyant density and makes it possible to isolate 15N-labeled DNA from heterogeneous mixtures of DNA. This method relies on recovery of “heavy” DNA from primary CsCl density gradients followed by purification of 15N-labeled DNA from unlabeled high-G+C-content DNA in secondary CsCl density gradients containing bis-benzimide. This technique, by providing a means to enhance separation of isotopically labeled DNA from unlabeled DNA, makes it possible to use 15N-labeled compounds effectively in DNA-SIP experiments and also will be effective for removing unlabeled DNA from isotopically labeled DNA in 13C-DNA-SIP applications.

Stable isotope probing with 15N2 reveals novel noncultivated diazotrophs in soil.

ABSTRACT Biological nitrogen fixation is a fundamental component of the nitrogen cycle and is the dominant natural process through which fixed nitrogen is made available to the biosphere. While the process of nitrogen fixation has been studied extensively with a limited set of cultivated isolates, examinations of nifH gene diversity in natural systems reveal the existence of a wide range of noncultivated diazotrophs. These noncultivated diazotrophs remain uncharacterized, as do their contributions to nitrogen fixation in natural systems. We have employed a novel 15N2-DNA stable isotope probing (5N2-DNA-SIP) method to identify free-living diazotrophs in soil that are responsible for nitrogen fixation in situ. Analyses of 16S rRNA genes from 15N-labeled DNA provide evidence for nitrogen fixation by three microbial groups, one of which belongs to the Rhizobiales while the other two represent deeply divergent lineages of noncultivated bacteria within the Betaproteobacteria and Actinobacteria, respectively. Analysis of nifH genes from 15N-labeled DNA also revealed three microbial groups, one of which was associated with Alphaproteobacteria while the others were associated with two noncultivated groups that are deeply divergent within nifH cluster I. These results reveal that noncultivated free-living diazotrophs can mediate nitrogen fixation in soils and that 15N2-DNA-SIP can be used to gain access to DNA from these organisms. In addition, this research provides the first evidence for nitrogen fixation by Actinobacteria outside of the order Actinomycetales.

Diversity of Planctomycetes in Soil in Relation to Soil History and Environmental Heterogeneity

ABSTRACT Members of the Planctomycetes, which were once thought to occur primarily in aquatic environments, have been discovered in soils on five continents, revealing that these Bacteria are a widespread and numerically abundant component of microbial communities in soil. We examined the diversity of Planctomycetes in soil samples obtained from experimental plots at an agricultural site in order to assess the extent of Planctomycetes diversity in soil, to determine whether management effects such as past land cover and compost addition affected the composition of the Planctomycetes community, and to determine whether the observations made could provide insight into the ecological distribution of these organisms. Analysis of Planctomycetes 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed a total of 312 ± 35 unique phylotypes in the soil at the site examined. The majority of these Planctomycetes sequences were unique, and the sequences had phylogenetic affiliations that included all major lineages in the Planctomycetaceae, as well as several novel groups of deeply divergent Planctomycetes. Both soil management history and compost amendment had significant effects on the Planctomycetes diversity, and variations in soil organic matter, Ca2+ content, and pH were associated with variations in the Planctomycetes community composition. In addition, Planctomycetes richness increased in proportion to the area sampled and was correlated with the spatial heterogeneity of nitrate, which was associated with the soil management history at the orchard site examined. This report provides the first systematic assessment of the diversity of Planctomycetes in soil and also provides evidence that the diversity of this group increases with area as defined by the general power law description of the taxon-area relationship.

A global census of nitrogenase diversity

The global diversity of nitrogen-fixing microorganisms was assessed through construction and analysis of an aligned database of 16,989 nifH sequences. We conclude that the diversity of diazotrophs is still poorly described and that many organisms remain to be discovered. Our analyses indicate that diversity is not distributed evenly across phylogenetic groups or across environments and that some of the most diverse assemblages and environments remain the most poorly characterized. The majority of OTUs were rare, falling in the long tail of the frequency distribution. The most dominant OTUs fell into either the Cyanobacteria or the α, β, and γ Proteobacteria, and five of these dominant OTUs do not have any representatives cultivated in isolation. Soils contained the greatest diversity of nifH sequences of all of the environments surveyed. Cluster III, which is dominated by nifH sequences from obligate anaerobes, was found to contain the greatest diversity of all nifH lineages and is also the group for which diversity is the least sampled. Our findings provide context for ongoing efforts to explore diazotroph diversity, indicating specific groups and environments that remain poorly characterized.

Widespread homologous recombination within and between Streptomyces species

Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) is widespread in the microbial world, but its impact on the origin and persistence of microbial species remains poorly defined. HGT can result in either acquisition of new genetic material or homologous replacement of existing genes. The evolutionary significance of homologous recombination in a population can be quantified by examining the relative rates at which polymorphisms are introduced from recombination (ρ) and mutation (θw). We used multilocus sequence analysis (MLSA) to quantify both intraspecies and interspecies homologous recombination among streptomycetes, multicellular Gram-positive bacteria ubiquitous in soil, which are an important source of antibiotics and bioactive compounds. Intraspecies recombination was examined using strains of Streptomyces flavogriseus isolated from soils at five locations spanning 1000 km. The strains had >99.8% nucleotide identity across the loci examined. We found remarkable levels of gene exchange within S. flavogriseus (ρ/θw=27.9), and found that the population was in linkage equilibrium (standardized index of association=0.0018), providing evidence for a freely recombining sexual population structure. We also examined interspecies homologous recombination among different Streptomyces species in an MLSA data set and found that 40% of the species had housekeeping genes acquired through HGT. The recombination rate between these named species (ρ/θw=0.21) exceeds that observed within many species of bacteria. Despite widespread gene exchange in the genus, the intraspecies recombination rate exceeded the interspecies rate by two orders of magnitude suggesting that patterns of gene exchange and recombination may shape the evolution of streptomycetes.