Application of the 50-mer Oligonucleotide Arrays Hybridization for Profiling Microbial Community in Acid Mine Drainage Sediment

Microbial community compositions and functional activities of three acid mine drainage (AMD) sediment samples from different sites in Dexing copper mine were analyzed by 50- mer oligonucleotide arrays which have been constructed and evaluated. The results showed that microbial community was composed of 15 different genus or species, including Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans(A. ferrooxidans), Leptospirillum sp., Acidiphilum spp., Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans, Acidobacteria, Acidithiobacillus caldus, Sulfobacillus sp., Desulfovibrio longus, Syntrophus sp., metallosphaera, Alicyclobacillus spp., Holophaga sp., Sulfolobus sp., Thiomonas spp. and Actinomyces naeslundii. Acidiphilum was abundant in three samples, for the anaerobic environment of sediment could inhibited aerobic bacteria, such as A. ferrooxidans. Heterotrophic Acidiphilium is able to catalyze the dissimilatory reduction of ferric iron to ferrous even in the presence of small amounts of oxygen. Among all the samples, the diversity was high in samples (site YTW and ZJ) containing low pH while the diversity was low in sample (site KZX) containing very high pH. Microarray hybridization data indicated that iron metabolism functional gene, Sulfur metabolism functional gene and metal-resistance gene and other genes existed in the AMD system. At all samples examined, microbial community and function activities were positively correlated with pH.