Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 22, 2026

Extraction and Analysis of Microbial Phospholipid Fatty Acids in Soils
Published on: August 26, 2016
[Soil bacterial community structure in primeval forest and degraded ecosystem in Karst region]
Xiang-Bi Chen1, Yi-Rong Su, Xun-Yang He
1Key Laboratory of Subtropical Agriculture Ecology, Institute of Subtropical Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changsha 410125, China. challenge200702@126.com
Abstract:
By using PCR-RFLP, this paper studied the 16S rDNA gene diversity and phylogenesis of soil bacteria in primeval forest and degraded ecosystem in Karst region of Northwest Guangxi. More genotypes and higher diversity index were observed in the soil of primeval forest than in that of degraded ecosystem, and only two common genotypes were observed in the two soils. A clone from each genotype was randomly selected as representative for sequencing. The obtained 16S rDNA gene sequences had a similarity of 87%-100% with those in the GenBank (www. ncbi. nlm. nih. gov), and more than half of them had a similarity lower than 97%, being of new species. Based on phylogenetic analysis, the bacteria in the two soils were classified into 10 groups, with 5 groups in common. The dominant bacterial groups in the two soils differed obviously. In primeval forest soil, the dominant group was Proteobacteria, which had 39 genotypes, occupying 58.0% of all the clones; while in the soil of degraded ecosystem, the dominant groups were Acidobacteria and Proteobacteria, which had 19 and 15 genotypes, occupying 32.5% and 30.5% of all the clones, respectively. In the soil of degraded ecosystem, Proteobacteria group decreased while Acidobacteria group increased markedly, compared with those in primeval forest soil. Soil physical and chemical properties and environmental factors should be responsible for the difference of soil bacterial community between the two soils.
Related Concept Videos
Soil Microbial Ecology
The Soil Ecosystem
Microbial Mats
Microbial Leaching
Methods to Assess Microbial Communities
Introduction to Microbial Ecology

