Bacterial diversity in water samples from uranium wastes as demonstrated by 16S rDNA and ribosomal intergenic spacer amplification retrievals.

Bacterial diversity was assessed in water samples collected from several uranium mining wastes in Ger many and in the United States by using 16S rDNA and ribosomal intergenic spacer amplification retrievals. The results obtained using the 16S rDNA retrieval showed that the samples collected from the uranium mill tailings of Schlema/Alberoda, Germany, were predominated by Nitrospina-like bacteria, whereas those from the mill tailings of Shiprock, New Mexico, USA, were predominated by gamma-Pseudomonas and Frauteria spp. Additional smaller populations of the Cytophaga-Flavobacterium-Bacteroides group and alpha- and delta-Proteobacteria were identified in the Shiprock samples as well. Proteobacteria and Cytophaga-Flavobacterium-Bacteroides were also found in the third uranium mill tailings studied, Gittersee/Coschütz, Germany, but the groups of the predominant clones were rather small. Most of the clones of the Gittersee/Coschütz samples represented individual sequences, which indicates a high level of bacterial diversity. The samples from the fourth uranium waste studied, Steinsee Deponie B1, Germany, were predominantly occupied by Acinetobacter spp. The ribosomal intergenic spacer amplification retrieval provided results complementary to those obtained by the 16S rDNA analyses. For instance, in the Shiprock samples, an additional predominant bacterial group was identified and affiliated with Nitrosomonas sp., whereas in the Gittersee/Coschütz samples, anammox populations were identified that were not retrieved by the applied 16S rDNA approach.