Bacterial communities inside and in the vicinity of the Chinese Great Wall Station, King George Island, Antarctica

Abstract

Both bacterial culture and molecular approaches were used to investigate the bacterial diversity inside the Chinese Antarctic Great Wall Station and in its adjacent area. Heterotrophic bacteria were isolated from the samples using a direct plating method. γ-Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Flavobacteria and Firmicutes were isolated from these samples. In the three water samples, Pseudomonas species were dominant. In soil samples, Flavobacterium, Bacillus or Arthrobacter species dominated. Escherichia coli strains were isolated only in two samples from inside the station. Total cell counts in the six soil samples were semi-quantified by Quantitative Competitive-PCR of the 16S rRNA gene copies. The soil samples contained 10⁵ to 10⁹ cells g⁻¹. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) was used further to investigate the bacterial diversity in the soil samples. A wider range of bacterial diversity including α-Proteobacteria, β-Proteobacteria, δ-Proteobacteria, γ-Proteobacteria, Flavobacteria, Actinobacteria and unclassified bacteria was discovered.