Microbial community represents more than half the biomass on the Earth. A gram of soil, for example, contains millions of microorganisms of difference group. Prokaryotes diversity in Aran-bidgol salt lake, thalasohaline lake in Iran, has been studied by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) of PCR-amplified fragments of 16S rRNA genes and 16S rRNA gene clone library analysis. Total cell abundance in the lake ranged from 3×107-4×107per milliliter as determined by DAPI (4\', 6-diamidino-2-phenylindole) direct count. The proportion of Bacteria to Archaea in the community detectable by FISH was one to two.

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