Bacterial communities from soil sediments of a mountain oasis in northern Oman

Paleoecological records of a 20 meter deep profile near an oasis settlement in northern Oman have yielded a chronosequence providing insights into relationships between vegetation, the environment and development of human settlements in this area over a period of time spanning 19,000 years. In conjunction with analysis of the chemical and physical properties of this profile, we hypothesized that bacterial community structures associated with this chronosequence may also constitute a part of the biogeochemical record of the climate history that has been preserved at this site. To examine this hypothesis, we studied the composition of the community as revealed by profiling of 16S rRNA genes at 1 meter intervals along the entire profile. The results of our study show distinct changes in bacterial communities with increasing depth that correspond with differences in the climatic record as indicated by the occurrence of micro-charcoal particles. Sequencing of 16S rRNA genes proved the presence of Acidobacteria, Actinobacteria, Proteobacteria, Gemmatimonadetes, Chloroflexi and representatives from the candidate divisions SPAM, NC10, and OP10. Differences in the communities support the hypothesis that the bacterial species compositions in the sediment reflect properties of the organic matter and vegetation at the time they were deposited.