Use of molecular techniques to evaluate the survival of a microorganism injected into an aquifer

Applied and Environmental Microbiology
By: , and 

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Abstract

A PCR primer set and an internal probe that are specific for Pseudomonas sp. strain B13, a 3-chlorobenzoate-metabolizing strain, were developed. Using this primer set and probe, we were able to detect Pseudomonas sp. strain B13 DNA sequences in DNA extracted from aquifer samples 14.5 months after Pseudomonas sp. strain B13 had been injected into a sand and gravel aquifer. This primer set and probe were also used to analyze isolates from 3-chlorobenzoate enrichments of the aquifer samples by Southern blot analysis. Hybridization of Southern blots with the Pseudomonas sp. strain B13-specific probe and a catabolic probe in conjunction with restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis of ribosome genes was used to determine that viable Pseudomonas sp. strain B13 persisted in this environment. We isolated a new 3-chlorobenzoate-degrading strain from one of these enrichment cultures. The B13-specific probe does not hybridize to DNA from this isolate. The new strain could be the result of gene exchange between Pseudomonas sp. strain B13 and an indigenous bacterium. This speculation is based on an RFLP pattern of ribosome genes that differs from that of Pseudomonas sp. strain B13, the fact that identically sized restriction fragments hybridized to the catabolic gene probe, and the absence of any enrichable 3-chlorobenzoate-degrading strains in the aquifer prior to inoculation.

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Publication type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Title Use of molecular techniques to evaluate the survival of a microorganism injected into an aquifer
Series title Applied and Environmental Microbiology
DOI 10.1128/aem.60.4.1059-1067.1994
Volume 60
Issue 4
Year Published 1994
Language English
Publisher American Society for Microbiology
Contributing office(s) Toxic Substances Hydrology Program
Description 9 p.
First page 1059
Last page 1067
Country United States
State Massachusetts
Other Geospatial Cape Cod
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