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JPR Advance Access published online on May 27, 2008
Journal of Plankton Research, doi:10.1093/plankt/fbn061
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© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

An evaluation of methods to study the gut bacterial community composition of freshwater zooplankton

Hannes Peter1 and Ruben Sommaruga*

Laboratory of Aquatic Photobiology and Plankton Ecology, Institute of Ecology, University of Innsbruck, Technikerstr. 25, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria

* Corresponding author: ruben.sommaruga{at}uibk.ac.at

Received on April 8, 2008; revised on May 21, 2008; accepted on May 26, 2008


  Abstract

The occurrence of gut bacteria in freshwater and marine zooplankton has long been recognized, but knowledge about the composition of the gut "microflora" and its permanent presence in different zooplankters is still inadequate. In this study, we tested the suitability of Fluorescence in situ Hybridization (FISH), Catalyzed Reporter Deposition (CARD)-FISH, cultivation, and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) on homogenates and whole-specimen sections to assess the presence and identity of gut bacteria in several freshwater copepod and cladoceran species. Unambiguous results about the presence of a permanent gut "microflora" were obtained for freshly caught Daphnia pulex by TEM. CARD-FISH on gut homogenates from Acanthodiaptomus denticornis and D. pulex revealed a very similar bacterial composition to that present in the water column. Major bacterial groups found in cladocerans and copepods were alpha-, beta-, gamma-Proteobacteria, and Cytophaga-Flavobacteria. The high contribution of alpha-Proteobacteria in A. denticornis suggested a specific niche for this group, but probably in association with its carapace. FISH on paraffin semithin sections had the potential to provide quantitative and qualitative information about the composition of the gut "microflora", but loss of bacteria and gut content was significant.

Key Words: CARD-FISH • TEM • GUT MICROFLORA • Daphnia • Acanthodiaptomus

1 Present address: Evolutionary Biology Centre, Department of Limnology, University of Uppsala, Box 573, SE-75 123 Uppsala, Sweden.

Communicating Editor: Dr John Dolan


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