TABLE 3.
Proportions of different cell types in continuous bioreactors as estimated by FISH with probes specific to the indicated target organisms (Table 2) and by rRNA gene clone bank analyses
| Probe or target | Fluorescent cells (% of DAPI-stained cells)a
|
Clones (%)b
|
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reactor 1, day 53, 49°C, air-CO2 | Reactor 2, day 53, 49°C, air | Reactor 1, day 301, 55°C, air-CO2 | Reactor 2, day 301, 49°C, air-CO2 | Reactor 1, day 301, 55°C | Reactor 2, day 301, 49°C | |
| Eubacterial 338 | 97.7, 98.1 | 91.6, 92.9 | 96.0 | 93.1 | 100 | 100 |
| Sulfobacillus genus | 3.7, 3.0 | 0.3, 0.9, 1.6 | 90.5 | 3.6 | 97.6 | 0 |
| S. thermosulfidooxidans | 2.1, 2.4 | 0.9, 0.7 | 87.1 | 1.3 | 91.7 | 0 |
| S. acidophilus | Not tested | Not tested | 3.4 | 1.3 | 5.9 | 0 |
| Acidimicrobium group | 19.0, 39.5, 23.7 | 24.9, 20.3 | 1.7 | 25.8 | 0 | 72.2 |
| Acidimicrobium ferrooxidans | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Acidithiobacillus caldus | 59.0 | 60.2, 57.5 | 4.9 | 51.0 | 2.4 | 27.8 |
a
The mean number of DAPI-stained cells examined for specific fluorescence was 938 per count (range, 344 to 1,750) in up to three samples as indicated.
b
Eighty-four clones were examined from the 55°C sample and 296 from the 49°C sample. Five chimeras were excluded from the data.