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STABLE CARBON ISOTOPE ANALYSIS OF NUCLEIC ACIDS TO TRACE SOURCES OF DISSOLVED SUBSTRATES USED BY ESTUARINE BACTERIA
Citation:
Coffin, R., D. Valinsky, R. Devereux, W. Price, AND L. Cifuentes. STABLE CARBON ISOTOPE ANALYSIS OF NUCLEIC ACIDS TO TRACE SOURCES OF DISSOLVED SUBSTRATES USED BY ESTUARINE BACTERIA. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/J-90/388.
Description:
The natural abundance of stable carbon isotopes measured in bacterial nucleic acids that were extracted from estuarine bacterial concentrates were used to trace sources of organic matter for bacteria in.aquatic environments. he stable carbon isotope ratios of P. aeruginosa and nucleic acids extracted from cultures resembled the carbon source on which bacteria were grown. The carbon isotope discrimination between substrate and bacterial cultures averages +2.3 0.6% (n=13). enerally the lack of isotope discrimination between bacteria and nucleic acids that was noted in the laboratory was observed in the field. xceptions to this comparison were due to changes in bacterial substrate sources as a result of the incubation experiments that were used to obtain bacteria for isotope analysis. ur results from work in the field and laboratory indicate that this approach is useful for tracing sources of and describing the bacterial role in cycling of dissolved organic matter in aquatic environments.