Improvement of preservation method for ammonia-oxidizing bacteria by freeze-drying

Long-term preservation of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria had been achieved until now by using the silica gel-freezing method. Recently, the freeze-drying method for the preservation of microorganisms has been widely used, and has been applied to the preservation of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria. The 10% skim milk-l% pyruvate or glutamate ratio was optimum as a dispersion-medium, and the preservation temperature of the freeze-dried cells was effective at -80°C. This method of preservation was found to be considerably more effective than the silica gel-freezing method.     

Improvement of media for thermophilic ammonia-oxidizing bacteria in compost

Thermophilic ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) have the potential to reduce ammonium emissions from commercial-scale animal waste composting operations. Two new media have been designed to culture and enumerate thermophilic AOB species. C-1 medium was designed to reflect compost composition. C-2 medium and CQ-2 medium were modified synthetic organic wastewater for the cultivation and enumeration of AOB, respectively. These new media have several advantages over the conventional medium. C-2 medium is effective for nitrification at 50°C, and C-1 and C-2 media support reasonable growth of thermophilic AOB. Furthermore, C-1 and CQ-2 media allow enumeration of thermophilic AOB during the composting process. This is the first report of the successful cultivation and enumeration of thermophilic AOB in compost. These results suggest the possibility of isolation and manipulation of novel thermophilic AOB species for environmental bioremediation.     

Fixation of carbon dioxide by chemoautotrophic bacteria in grassland soil under dark conditions

Grassland is one of the most important terrestrial ecosystems for carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) cycling. However, while CO₂ fixation by phototrophic bacteria is relatively well studied, little is known about microbial CO₂ fixation without light by chemoautotrophic bacteria in grassland soils. Therefore, in this study, the isotope ¹⁴C-CO₂ was used to investigate the CO₂-fixing process in grassland soils. Soil samples were collected from both fenced and adjacent continuous grazing grassland sites in Inner Mongolia and then incubated for 120 days under dark conditions. Meanwhile, the cbbL genes (red- and green-like) were analyzed to isolate chemoautotrophic bacteria, which are responsible for CO₂ fixation. After incubation, ¹⁴C was fixed into soil organic carbon (¹⁴C-SOC) and microbial biomass carbon (¹⁴C-MBC) were found in both the fenced and grazing soils, and the fixation rate of ¹⁴C-SOC in the fenced soils (48.55‰) was significantly higher than in the grazing soils (22.11‰). The fixation rate of ¹⁴C-MBC in the fenced soils (14.05‰) was higher than in the grazing soils (7.08‰), but the difference was not significant. The red-like cbbL genes could be detected in all the soil samples, but the green-like cbbL genes could not be amplified. A greater number of identified operational taxonomic units were observed in the fenced soils compared with the grazing soils. The chemoautotrophic bacteria were mainly affiliated with Alphaproteobacteria and Actinobacteria. However, Chloroflexi was detected in only the fenced soils. The results suggested that CO₂ fixation by chemoautotrophic bacteria might be significant in carbon cycling in grassland.     

Environmental similarity is more important than distance in the community structuring processes of ammonia-oxidizing archaea in agricultural soils

Ammonia-oxidizing archaea(AOA) are important in converting ammonia into nitrate in soils. While many aspects of their community structure have been studied, the relative importance of stochastic versus deterministic processes has poorly been understood. We compared AOA communities across the North China Plain, targeting the amoA gene. A phylogenetic null modelling approach was used to calculate the beta nearest taxon index to quantify the influence of stochastic and deterministic processes. We f...     

A quantitative evaluation and phylogenetic characterization of oligotrophic denitrifying bacteria harbored in subsurface upland soil using improved culturability

This is the first investigation to show that oligotrophic denitrifying bacteria are dominant denitrifiers in subsurface upland soil. We examined the vertical distribution of denitrifying bacterial populations in upland soil using two kinds of enumeration media. The number of denitrifying bacteria, enumerated in subsurface soil layers by a 100-fold diluted nutrient broth (DNB) medium with NO₃ ⁻, was two to three orders of magnitude greater than those enumerated by a conventional nutrient broth medium with NO₃ ⁻, suggesting the dominance of oligotrophic denitrifying bacteria. Seventy-four percent of the total denitrifying bacterial isolates were DNB organisms of the oligotrophic type, which did not show appreciable growth on a conventional nutrient broth medium. The isolates were heterogeneous and were categorized as alpha (35 strains) and beta (19 strains) subdivisions of proteobacteria and high G+C gram-positive bacteria (7 strains) by 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis. The 35-alpha subdivision of proteobacterial isolates was of oligotrophic type and widely distributed from the surface to subsurface soil layers. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that some isolates belonged to groups with few or no cultivated representatives, and that one isolate may be a member of a new genus. This isolation procedure, using diluted media, is valuable in detecting diverse and novel denitrifying bacteria in the subsurface soil.     

基于优化点匹配模式的农作区遥感影像融合分类

利用遥感影像进行农作物长势监测及估产中,对所用多源影像进行恰当的影像融合是正确解译的重要前提,在传统的基于灰度的影像匹配融合模式中,存在着高运算量和精度不高的问题,该文使用一种基于优化点匹配模式进行农作区遥感影像融合方法,对不同传感器的两景西北农作区遥感影像进行了融合分析验证。所用两景ASTER和SPOT图像匹配总体误差RMS=0.8965,融合后的影像总体分类精度提高到89.67%。