Bacterial diversity in Adélie penguin, Pygoscelis adeliae, guano: molecular and morpho-physiological approaches

Abstract

The total number of bacteria and culturable bacteria in Adélie penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae) guano was determined during 42 days of decomposition in a location adjacent to the rookery in Admiralty Bay, King George Island, Antarctica. Of the culturable bacteria, 72 randomly selected colonies were described using 49 morpho-physiological tests, 27 of which were subsequently considered significant in characterizing and differentiating the isolates. On the basis of the nucleotide sequence of a fragment of the 16S rRNA gene in each of 72 pure isolates, three major phylogenetic groups were identified, namely the Moraxellaceae/Pseudomonadaceae (29 isolates), the Flavobacteriaceae (14), and the Micrococcaceae (29). Grouping of the isolates on the basis of morpho-physiological tests (whether 49 or 27 parameters) showed similar results to those based on 16S rRNA gene sequences. Clusters were characterized by considerable intra-cluster variation in both 16S rRNA gene sequences and morpho-physiological responses. High diversity in abundance and morphometry of total bacterial communities during penguin guano decomposition was supported by image analysis of epifluorescence micrographs. The results indicate that the bacterial community in penguin guano is not only one of the richest in Antarctica, but is extremely diverse, both phylogenetically and morpho-physiologically.

Insight into heavy metal resistome of soil psychrotolerant bacteria originating from King George Island (Antarctica)

“…The diversity of cultivable bacteria identified in this study was biased toward Gram-negative strains, mostly belonging to the Proteobacteria phylum. This is in good agreement with several previous studies concerning identification of cultivable bacteria from Antarctica (Zdanowski et al 2004(Zdanowski et al , 2013van Dorst et al 2016). Notably, almost 25% of bacterial strains isolated in this study belonged to Actinobacteria phylum, and bacteria representing this group are commonly isolated from Antarctic soils (Smith et al 2006;Zdanowski et al 2013;Cowan et al 2014;Pudasaini et al 2017).…”

Relation between soil classification and bacterial diversity in soils of the Ross Sea region, Antarctica

“…The CD-ribotypes were closely related to cultured Psychrobacter (Table 4) including the halotolerant, psychrophile Psychrobacter vallis that was isolated from a cyanobacterial mat from the Dry Valleys (Shivaji et al, 2005). Psychrobacter were prevalent in the culturable bacterial community of ornithogenic soil from Eastern Antarctica (Bowman et al, 1996) and have been isolated from penguin guano (Zdanowski et al, 2004). Psychrobacter are obligate or facultative psychrophiles and halotolerant.…”

Real-time detection of airborne fluorescent bioparticles in Antarctica

“…Zdanowski et al (2004) identified three major phylogenetic groups (Pseudomonadaceae, Flavobacteriaceae and Micrococcaceae) of bacteria found in bird guano at King George Island; however, little is known about the airborne concentrations and dispersion rates of these microorganisms in this region.…”