Abundance of narG , nirS , nirK , and nosZ Genes of Denitrifying Bacteria during Primary Successions of a Glacier Foreland

Quantitative PCR of denitrification genes encoding the nitrate, nitrite, and nitrous oxide reductases was used to study denitrifiers across a glacier foreland. Environmental samples collected at different distances from a receding glacier contained amounts of 16S rRNA target molecules ranging from 4.9 × 105 to 8.9 × 105 copies per nanogram of DNA but smaller amounts ofnarG ,nirK , andnosZ target molecules. Thus, numbers ofnarG ,nirK ,nirS , andnosZ copies per nanogram of DNA ranged from 2.1 × 103 to 2.6 × 104 , 7.4 × 102 to 1.4 × 103 , 2.5 × 102 to 6.4 × 103 , and 1.2 × 103 to 5.5 × 103 , respectively. The densities of 16S rRNA genes per gram of soil increased with progressing soil development. The densities as well as relative abundances of different denitrification genes provide evidence that different denitrifier communities develop under primary succession: higher percentages ofnarG andnirS versus 16S rRNA genes were observed in the early stage of primary succession, while the percentages ofnirK andnosZ genes showed no significant increase or decrease with soil age. Statistical analyses revealed that the amount of organic substances was the most important factor in the abundance of eubacteria as well as ofnirK andnosZ communities, and copy numbers of these two genes were the most important drivers changing the denitrifying community along the chronosequence. This study yields an initial insight into the ecology of bacteria carrying genes for the denitrification pathway in a newly developing alpine environment.