Prevalence of the gene trzN and biogeographic patterns among atrazine‐degrading bacteria isolated from 13 Colombian agricultural soils

The following study evaluated the diversity and biogeography of 83 new atrazine‐degrading bacteria and the composition of their atrazine degradation genes. These strains were isolated from 13 agricultural soils and grouped according to rep‐PCR genomic fingerprinting into 11 major clusters, which showed biogeographic patterns. Three clusters (54 strains) belonged to the genus Arthrobacter , seven clusters (28 strains) were similar to the genus Nocardioides and only one strain was a gram‐negative from the genus Ancylobacter . PCR assays for the detection of the genes atzA, B, C, D, E, F and trzN conducted with each of the 83 strains revealed that 82 strains (all gram positive) possessed trzN , 74 of them possessed the combination of trzN , atzB and atzC , while only the gram‐negative strain had atzA . A similar PCR assay for the two analogous genes, atzA and trzN , responsible for the first step of atrazine degradation, was performed with DNA extracted directly from the enrichment cultures and microcosms spiked with atrazine. In these assays, the gene trzN was detected in each culture, while atzA was detected in only six out of 13 soils. These results raise an interesting hypothesis on the evolutionary ecology of the two atrazine chlorohydrolase genes (i.e. atzA and trzN ) and about the biogeography of atrazine‐degrading bacteria.