Bacteria isolated from extreme enviroments in argeninean high altitude (above 4.400 masl) Andean Wetlands

ORDOÑEZ, OMAR; ESTÉVEZ, MARÍA; FLORES, MARÍA REGINA; DIB, JULIÁN RAFAEL; FARÍAS, MARIA EUGENIA

Cairns, Australia

Simposio; 12th International Symposium on Microbial Ecology; 2008

ISME

Argentinean high altitude Andean wetlands (HAAW) are pristine environments with extreme conditions such as high UV radiation (maxim UV-B Wm-2 in situ 10,78), high heavy metal content (mainly arsenic 0,8 to 11,8 mg/L), high salinity (0,4 to 117 ppm), oligotrophy and low phosphor. Salar de la Laguna Verde is a system of four oligotrophic shallow lakes (L.) (L. Aparejos, L. Azul, L. Negra and L. Verde) distributed along 100 km2 in Catamarca, Argentine. L. Catal belongs to Salar del Hombre Muerto (Salta-Arg.) and L. Vilama is located in Jujuy, Argentine. These wetlands are located at an altitude that varies from 4200 to 4400 meters above sea level (masl). The exploration at the microbial diversity of HAAW could give new insights to the mechanism of adaptation and tolerance to extreme environments. The aim of this study was to create a culture collection of extreme microorganisms from HAAW for future investigation. Bacteria from water and sediment were isolated under pressure conditions of high UV-B radiation, arsenic and antibiotics presence. Genomic DNA was extracted from isolated strains using CTAB method and 16S rDNA gene partial amplification was done using universal bacterial primers. We isolated 116 strains which belonged to five major lineages of the domain Bacteria; the á, â and ã- subdivisions of Proteobacteria (50), Firmicutes (52), Actinobacteria(13) and Archaea (1). Most of them are consider rare and  little knowing bacteria comparing actual databases. This culture collection has potential biotechnological applications in the study of the genetic and phenotypic of extremophyle bacteria.