Open AccessEffect of experimental contamination with the explosive hexahydro‐1,3,5‐trinitro‐1,3,5‐triazine on soil bacterial communities
Author(s) -
Juck D.,
Driscoll B.T.,
Charles T.C.,
Greer C.W.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
fems microbiology ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.377
H-Index - 155
eISSN - 1574-6941
pISSN - 0168-6496
DOI - 10.1111/j.1574-6941.2003.tb01065.x
Subject(s) - biology , temperature gradient gel electrophoresis , contamination , environmental chemistry , loam , 16s ribosomal rna , soil contamination , microbiology and biotechnology , bacteria , soil water , ecology , chemistry , genetics
The effect of contamination with the explosive hexahydro‐1,3,5‐trinitro‐1,3,5‐triazine (RDX) on an indigenous soil bacterial community was examined in two uncontaminated loam soil columns possessing native grasses. One column was spiked twice with RDX crystals for a total RDX load of 1000 mg (kg soil) −1 . The reduced metabolite of RDX degradation, hexahydro‐1‐nitroso‐3,5‐dinitro‐1,3,5‐triazine, was observed in the column leachate, suggesting anaerobic degradation of RDX. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis of PCR‐amplified 16S rDNA from both contaminated and uncontaminated columns produced identical banding patterns which were stable over the course of the experimental period. The bacterial diversity remained high in the contaminated column, as determined by restriction fragment length polymorphism and rarefaction analyses of random 16S rDNA clones. These combined results suggested that long‐term exposure to 1000 mg RDX (kg soil) −1 did not produce an observable effect on bacterial diversity or the numerically dominant members of the indigenous soil bacterial community.