Study on microbial diversity and community in Miaoergou snow of East Tianshan Mountains and their relation to climatic and environmental changes

Abstract:

The different depth snow samples were collected from the Miaoergou glacier in East Tianshan Mountains regions，China. Total bacteria counts were established by 4′，6- diamino-2-phenylindole (DAPI). Both culture-dependent and culture-independent methods，denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE)，were used to examine the bacterial diversity and community structure. The microbial abundance and diversity index have a close relationship with mineral particle concentration. These mineral particles，such as Ca²⁺，Mg²⁺ and Cl^- etc，are good indicators of climate and environment. The 16S rDNA gene both of cultured bacteria and DGGE band sequenced belong to following groups：proteobacteria（α-，β-，γ-），Cytophaga-Flavobacterium-Bacteroides(CFB)，High GC and Low GC. Among these，Proteobacteria and CFB are dominant groups. Compare with bacteria revealed from ice and snow in Qinghai-Tibet Plateau，South Pole and North Pole which have been reported，Paracoccu sp. and Aquasalina sp. are especially exist in this study area as far as we know. The microbial abundance and community structure are all changed obviously in different depth snow samples. It indicates that the snow bacteria community is influenced by many factors. The results show that because the special geographical position of the East Tianshan Mountains，microorganism in ice and snow of this area has its particularity.