Assessment of populations in a transect of in Punta Galeta, Panamá: culture-dependent analyses reveal biotechnological applications.

INTRODUCTION

is considered an ecological niche for microorganisms with potentially novel and complex degrading enzymes.

OBJECTIVE

To characterize populations using culture-dependent methods, using samples collected from sediments and water along a red mangrove transect composed of three sites.

METHODS

Strains were characterized according to their distribution, capacity to degrade of organic matter and other environmental parameters. Additionally the sequence diversity was assessed using 16S rRNA sequencing.

RESULTS

Bacterial densities were strongly associated with temperature and salinity. A total of 87 good-quality sequences representing the isolates from the three sites, were binned into eight OTUs (s). Taxonomic assignment indicated that the dominant members were Vibrionaceae. Beta diversity analyses showed that bacterial communities clustered by sample source rather than spatial distribution, and that alpha diversity was found to be higher in water than in sediment. Three percent of the strains from water samples could degrade carboxyl-methyl cellulose with the smallest enzymatic indexes compared to 4 % of the strains from sediment samples that showed the highest enzymatic indexes. Two strains identified as degraded cellulose and agarose, producing the highest enzymatic indexes.

CONCLUSIONS

We found higher bacterial densities and diversity in the bacterial communities of the water samples compared to the sediment, with different OTUs including those similar to , or which were not isolated in the sediment. OTUs were shown to degrade cellulose in both sample types. The results of this study highlight the importance of red mangroves as habitats and as reservoirs of potential enzyme sources with biotechnological applications.