Novel Clostridium populations involved in the anaerobic degradation of Microcystis blooms

Understanding the microbial degradation of Microcystis biomass is crucial for determining the ecological consequences of Microcystis blooms in freshwater lakes. The purpose of this study was to identify bacteria involved in the anaerobic degradation of Microcystis blooms. Microcystis scum was anaerobically incubated for 90 days at three temperatures (15 degrees C, 25 degrees C and 35 degrees C). We used terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) analysis of bacterial 16S rRNA genes, followed by cloning and sequencing of selected samples, to reveal the community composition of bacteria and their dynamics during decomposition. Clostridium spp. were found to be the most dominant bacteria in the incubations, accounting for 72% of the sequenced clones. Eight new clusters or subclusters (designated CLOS. 1-8) were identified in the Clostridium phylogenetic tree. The bacterial populations displayed distinct successions during Microcystis decomposition. Temperature had a strong effect on the dynamics of the bacterial populations. At 15 degrees C, the initial dominance of a 207-bp T-RF (Betaproteobacteria) was largely substituted by a 227-bp T-RF (Clostridium, new cluster CLOS. 2) at 30 days. In contrast, at 25 degrees C and 35 degrees C, we observed an alternating succession of the 227-bp T-RF and a 231-bp T-RF (Clostridium, new cluster CLOS. 1) that occurred more than four times; no one species dominated the flora for the entire experiment. Our study shows that novel Clostridium clusters and their diverse consortiums dominate the bacterial communities during anaerobic degradation of Microcystis, suggesting that these microbes' function in the degradation process. The ISME Journal (2011) 5, 792-800; doi: 10.1038/ismej.2010.176; published online 25 November 2010