Variations in abundance and community composition of denitrifying bacteria during a cyanobacterial bloom in a eutrophic shallow lake in China

Abstract

Although cyanobacterial blooms can change microbial communities, it is still unclear what impact such harmful blooms will have on denitrifying bacteria, the drivers of the removal of excessive nitrogen from water. In order to clarify the impact, populations of denitrifying bacteria, with periodic proliferation and dominance of cyanobacteria in a eutrophic shallow lake located in southeast China, were investigated using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) and 454-pyrosequencing based on the copper-containing nitrite reductase (nirK) gene, cytochrome cd1-containing nitrite reductase (nirS) gene and nitrous oxide reductase (nosZ) gene. Samples were collected periodically during a three-month period when the cyanobacterial density gradually increased. In the qPCR analyses, abundances of nirK, nirS and nosZ were intensely positively correlated with the biomass of cyanobacteria. Moreover, 454-pyrosequencing revealed that the community composition of denitrifying bacteria shifted with the increase in cyanobacterial density. These results indicated that the shifts of the community composition of denitrifying bacteria might be related to cyanobacterial blooms, which could potentially lead to alterations of denitrification in eutrophic water.