Single particle analysis reveals that bacterial community structures are semi-specific to the type of soil particle

Abstract

With the aim of understanding how diverse bacteria are distributed within a heterogeneous soil, we compared local bacterial communities on individual soil particles. We picked up 11 coarse sand-sized particles (quartz, whitish feldspar, yellow feldspar or unidentified brown particles) from a sandy soil, extracted DNA from each particle, and carried out partial 16S rDNA polymerase chain reaction denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis analysis. Bacterial communities located on soil particles of the same type were more similar in composition than communities located on particles of the other types. Thus, the local structure of a bacterial community is related to the type of soil particle, which suggests that a high diversity of soil bacteria emerges through a combination of local bacterial communities on different types of soil particles.