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International Journal of Environment Science and Technology
Center for Environment and Energy Research and Studies (CEERS)
ISSN: 1735-1472 EISSN: 1735-1472
Vol. 11, No. 5, 2014, pp. 1487-1496
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Bioline Code: st14145
Full paper language: English
Document type: Review Article
Document available free of charge
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International Journal of Environment Science and Technology, Vol. 11, No. 5, 2014, pp. 1487-1496
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Microbial diversity in waters, sediments and microbial mats evaluated using fatty acid-based methods
Mrozik, A.; Nowak, A. & Piotrowska-Seget, Z.
Abstract
The review summarises recent advances
towards a greater comprehensive assessment of microbial
diversity in aquatic environments using the fatty acid
methyl esters and phospholipid fatty acids approaches.
These methods are commonly used in microbial ecology
because they do not require the culturing of micro-organisms,
are quantitative and reproducible and provide valuable
information regarding the structure of entire microbial
communities. Because some fatty acids are associated with
taxonomic and functional groups of micro-organisms, they
allow particular groups of micro-organisms to be distinguished.
The integration of fatty acid-based methods with
stable isotopes, RNA and DNA analyses enhances our
knowledge of the role of micro-organisms in global nutrient
cycles, functional activity and phylogenetic lineages
within microbial communities. Additionally, the analysis
of fatty acid profiles enables the shifts in the microbial
diversity in pristine and contaminated environments to be
monitored. The main objective of this review is to present
the use of lipid-based approaches for the characterisation of
microbial communities in water columns, sediments and
biomats.
Keywords
Biodiversity; Biomarker fatty acids; Community structure; Microbial biomass
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