Biomass, community structure and nutritional status attributes of the deep subsurface microbiota---at Idaho and Hanford sites

Technical Report · Mon Oct 28 04:00:00 EST 1991

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/6914371· OSTI ID:6914371

White, D. C.; Ringelberg, D. B. ^[1]

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1. Tennessee Univ., Knoxville, TN (United States). Center for Environmental Biotechnology Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States)

The signature lipid biomarker technique based on phospholipid ester-linked fatty acid pattern analysis (PLFA) provides data on the total viable or potentially viable communities without the necessity of: (1) Quantitative recovery from the sediments or (2) The ability to culture the organisms. Analysis of PLFA provides evidence for the nutritional status (starvation and/or unbalanced growth) in situ. PLFA analysis of SSP samples from the INEL and PNL sites vadose zones showed higher biomass at the surface with prominent Actinomyces biomarkers with lower biomasses of stressed microbiota at progressively greater depth. The biomass and community diversity increased at the water table at both sites. Both these Western sites showed lower viable microbial biomasses than the WSRS samples. Cluster analysis of the total patterns from various sedimentary horizons showed three major consortia of microbes, with surface microbiota related at both sites, low viable biomass sites closely related at both sites, with anaerobic desaturase pathway being predominant at INEL and consortia utilizing predominantly branched saturated and the aerobic desaturase pathway at both sites. Preliminary examination of the consortia recovered from NTS show a clear relationship to water level.

• Research Organization: Tennessee Univ., Knoxville, TN (United States). Center for Environmental Biotechnology
• Sponsoring Organization: DOE; DOD; EPRI; NASA; NSF; USDOE, Washington, DC (United States); Department of Defense, Washington, DC (United States); Electric Power Research Inst., Palo Alto, CA (United States); National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Washington, DC (United States); National Science Foundation, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: FG05-90ER60988
• OSTI ID: 6914371
• Report Number(s): DOE/ER/60988-T1; ON: DE93003594
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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Terrestrial-- Basic Studies-- (1990-)
BACTERIA
BASELINE ECOLOGY
BIODEGRADATION
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
DECOMPOSITION
ECOLOGY
LEVELS
LIPIDS
MICROCOCCUS
MICROORGANISMS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC WASTES
PLANNING
UNDERGROUND
WASTES