Abstract

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This study identified the bacterial species associated with dumpsite soil using both cultural and molecular techniques. Soil samples were obtained from the University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State. Bacteria associated with dumpsite soil were isolated using both Nutrient agar and serial dilution method. Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) was extracted from pure cultures of bacterial isolates using Quick-DNA Fungal/Bacterial MiniPrepTM Kit and the concentration determined using Nanadrop 2000c Spectrophotometer. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of I6S rRNA gene of the extracted DNA was carried out using bacteria universal primer pair; 16SF and 16SR. Sequencing was performed in an ABI3500 Genetic analyzer. The sequences were aligned and compared with some sequences on the National Centre for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) database for species identification and evolutionary trend. Four bacterial species were obtained. The result of the nucleotide sequence analysis revealed that isolate 1 with 1129bp had a 100% similarity to Enterobacter ludwigii; isolate 2 with 1235bp had a 91% similarity to Acinetobacter baumannii; isolate 3 having 1033bp had a 98% similarity to Lysinibacillus fusiformis; while isolate 4 with 1129bp had a 95% similarity to Burkholderia latens. The accession numbers MN310508, MK719842, MN396184 and MN207011 were assigned to isolates 1 to 4 respectively. This study provided more information on the bacteria species associated with dumpsite soils.

Keywords: Dumpsite, sequencing, phylogeny, bacteria