Ecole Nationale d'Ingénieurs de Sfax, Unité de Recherche: Etude et Gestion des Environnements Côtier et Urbain, B.P. 1173, 3038 Sfax, Tunisia.
Can J Microbiol. 2010 Jan;56(1):44-51. doi: 10.1139/w09-102.
Phylogenetic analysis of 16S rRNA was used to investigate for the first time the structure of the microbial community that inhabits salt crystals retrieved from the bottom of a solar saltern, located in the coastal area of the Mediterranean Sea (Sfax, Tunisia). This community lives in an extremely salty environment of 250-310 g/L total dissolved salt. A total of 78 bacterial 16S rRNA clone sequences making up to 21 operational taxonomic units (OTUs), determined by the DOTUR program to 97% sequence similarity, was analyzed. These OTUs were affiliated to Bacteroidetes (71.4% of OTUs), and gamma-Proteobacteria and alpha-Proteobacteria (equally represented by 14.2% of the OTUs observed). The archaeal community composition appeared more diverse with 68 clones, resulting in 44 OTUs, all affiliated with the Euryarchaeota phylum. Of the bacterial and archaeal clones showing <97% 16S rRNA sequence identity with sequences in public databases, 47.6% and 84.1% respectively were novel clones. Both rarefaction curves and diversity measurements (Simpson, Shannon-Weaver, Chao) showed a more diverse archaeal than bacterial community at the Tunisian solar saltern pond. The analysis of an increasing clone's number may reveal additional local diversity.
首次利用 16S rRNA 系统发育分析调查了栖息在位于地中海沿岸（突尼斯斯法克斯）盐田底部的盐晶体中的微生物群落结构。该群落生活在总溶解盐度为 250-310 g/L 的极端咸水环境中。通过 DOTUR 程序分析了总共 78 个细菌 16S rRNA 克隆序列，这些序列组成了 21 个操作分类单元（OTU），相似度达到 97%。这些 OTU 与拟杆菌门（71.4%的 OTU）和γ-变形菌门和α-变形菌门（观察到的 OTU 各占 14.2%）有关。古菌群落组成更加多样，有 68 个克隆，产生 44 个 OTU，均属于广古菌门。与公共数据库中的序列相比，具有 <97%16S rRNA 序列同一性的细菌和古菌克隆分别有 47.6%和 84.1%为新克隆。不论是稀疏曲线还是多样性测量（辛普森、香农-威弗、查欧）都表明，突尼斯太阳能盐田中古菌群落的多样性比细菌群落更为多样。分析不断增加的克隆数量可能会揭示更多的本地多样性。
