Enrichment of nitrous oxide reducing bacteria from coastal marsh sediments

Abstract

We attempted to recover organisms capable of respiratory nitrous oxide reduction with acetate as an electron donor from a variety of coastal marine sediments from Lavaca Bay area, Texas by use of liquid enrichment cultures. Putative positive cultures were analyzed by amplifying eubacterial and archaeal 16S rRNA gene fragments and analyzing their diversity by separating them by a denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE). No Archaea was detected in our enrichments; however, positive enrichments from coastal salt marsh indicated the presence of putative nitrous oxide reducing bacteria. DGGE patterns of the amplified DNA were similar between enrichments, with ca. 7 obvious bands. The dominant bands were tentatively identified as members of the Gammaproteobacteria class, closely related to various denitrifying pseudomonads. Our results indicate that coastal marine environments may sustain a nitrous oxide reducing community, although nitrous oxide reduction is probably an opportunistic form of metabolism in that environment.