Isolation and Identification of Anaerobic Bacteria from Arctic Tundra Soils

Abstract

The Korea Polar Research Institute (KOPRI) has operated the Polar and Alpine Microbial Collection (PAMC) since 2012. Although, PAMC holds approximately 7,000 strains of bacteria, not many of the strains were isolated from anaerobic conditions. The soil samples were collected from a total of 36 sampling sites in tussock tundra of Council, Alaska. The soil samples were stocked in 15% glycerol, and transported to KOPRI under frozen and anaerobic conditions. The inoculation of bacteria was performed in the anaerobic chamber, using TSA, R2A and ISP4 as the isolation media. The culturing temperature was 20℃. After sub-culturing, the isolated strains were stocked in 40% liquid glycerol and stored at -80℃. The revival test was performed on the anaerobic bacteria that had been stocked for 2~3 months. The strains that had passed the revival test were stored in PAMC. Total of 209 strains have been isolated, among them, 127 strains have been identified on the basis of 16S rRNA genes. They belonged to 14 genus and 27 species, with more than half being Paenibacillus. Most of the strains were facultative anaerobic strains except an obligate anaerobe Clostridium algidixylanoyticum. The revival test and identification of the remaining strains are still under process, and taxonomic studies for candidate strains for new species.