Journal of Pure and Applied MicrobiologyVol. 3 No. 2

Micro Diversity in Individuals of Same Species Residing in Restricted Ecotypes

S. Chouhan¹*, D. Choudhary², N. Silawat¹, A.P. Mathur² and N.N. Mehrotra¹

¹M.P. Council of Science and Technology, Bhopal - 462 023 India ²Department of Biotechnology and Bioinformatics Centre, Barkatullah University, Bhopal, India.

Received on 29 March 2009 and accepted on 13 May 2009

ABSTRACT

A combination of cultivation-based methods with a molecular biological approach was used to investigate whether isolated bacteria with identical 16S rRNA gene sequences can represent distinct eco – and – genotypes. A set of 8 strains of Pseudomonas putida and Actinetobacter calcoaceticus were isolated from mushroom casing compost community by conventional plating or by using a liquid most probable number (MPN) dilution series. All the 8 strains showed genetic diversity but each strain utilized a specific combination of 31 carbon substrates, and the niche overlap indices were low, suggesting that each strain occupied a different ecological niche. Our results concluded that the extent of physiological diversity masked by identical partial 16S rRNA sequences is much large and that this so-called micro diversity has ecological relevance.

Keywords : 16S rRNA sequence, Microdiversity, Sole source carbon utilization, Morphotypical, Phylogenetical.