Stable isotope probing with 18O-water to investigate microbial growth and death in environmental samples

Egbert Schwartz; Michaela Hayer; Bruce A Hungate; Benjamin J Koch; Theresa A McHugh; William Mercurio; Ember M Morrissey; Katerina Soldanova

doi:10.1016/j.copbio.2016.03.003

Stable isotope probing with ¹⁸O-water to investigate microbial growth and death in environmental samples

Curr Opin Biotechnol. 2016 Oct:41:14-18. doi: 10.1016/j.copbio.2016.03.003. Epub 2016 Mar 29.

Authors

Egbert Schwartz¹, Michaela Hayer², Bruce A Hungate², Benjamin J Koch², Theresa A McHugh², William Mercurio², Ember M Morrissey², Katerina Soldanova²

Affiliations

¹ Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ 86011-5640, United States. Electronic address: Egbert.Schwartz@nau.edu.
² Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ 86011-5640, United States.

PMID: 27035052
DOI: 10.1016/j.copbio.2016.03.003

Abstract

Growth and mortality of microorganisms have been characterized through DNA stable isotope probing (SIP) with ¹⁸O-water in soils from a range of ecosystems. Conventional SIP has been improved by sequencing a marker gene in all fractions retrieved from an ultracentrifuge tube to produce taxon density curves, which allow estimating the atom percent isotope composition of each microbial taxon's genome. Very recent advances in SIP with ¹⁸O-water include expansion of the technique to aquatic samples, investigations of microbial turnover in soil, and the first use of ¹⁸O-water in RNA-SIP studies.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Bacteria / classification*
Bacteria / genetics
Bacteria / metabolism*
DNA, Bacterial / chemistry
DNA, Bacterial / genetics*
DNA, Bacterial / isolation & purification
Environmental Microbiology*
Isotope Labeling / methods*
Oxygen Isotopes / analysis*
Water / chemistry*

Substances

DNA, Bacterial
Oxygen Isotopes
Water