The need for new antibiotics and other biologically active compounds is the reason for an increased interest in secondary metabolites of soil bacteria. The phylum Actinobacteria has the dominant position in the soil environment thanks to the potential of producing a broad spectrum of antibiotics and the presence of a number of defense mechanisms preventing the effects of antibiotics. The aim of this thesis was to determine the number of copies of selected secondary metabolic genes in the soils of two sites using designed primers and primers from literature. The design of effective new primers for the detection of selected genes in the soil environment was not achieved in this work, and therefore only primers from literature that had been verified for their specificity were used. In samples taken from soil profiles of two sites, abundances of bacteria, actinobacteria, type II polyketide synthase genes and Erm methyltransferase genes mediating resistance to MLSB antibiotics (macrolides, lincosamides and streptogramins B) were determined by digital PCR. The comparison of the determined copy numbers gave an information about the structure of the bacterial community and the relative abundance of bacteria carrying selected secondary metabolic genes depending on the soil condition changes due to the...

The thesis focuses on studying changes of microbial communities living in the soil contaminated by heavy metals. Two sites with different degree of contamination were selected in the Příbram area. Respiration was measured in vitro in the soil samples supplemented with various carbon sources and different concentration of cadmium. The respiration showed that even at cadmium concentration of 1000 mg.kg-1 the community is viable and capable of utilization of substrates while increasing the respiration rate. Enviromental DNA from soil samples was isolated and 16S rRNA gene of actinobacteria was amplified. The terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis showed a clear difference between the profiles of both sites. The shifts in the community profiles were observed also after the addition of substrates. The quantification of total bacteria and actinobacteria was performed by quantitative PCR based on amplification of part of the 16S rRNA gene. The more contaminated site contained slightly more bacteria, but almost twice the actinobacteria than the less contaminated one. The sequencing of amplicons of a part of 16S rRNA gene by Illumina showed an increase in proportion of actinobacteria and changes of their community structure in the more contaminated site. The conclusion was made that, high...

The diploma thesis is focussed on understanding relationships between soil chemical characteristics, actinobacterial communities of agricultural field soils and occurrence of potato common scab, a disease caused by members of the genus Streptomyces. The aim of monitoring study, on thirty-three sites covering main potato- growing regions in the Czech Republic, was to find relationships suitable for prediction of common scab severity. The second part of the thesis compared actinobacterial communities and incidence of Streptomyces harboring a pathogenic determinant, gene txtA (gene of biosynthetic pathway of phytotoxin thaxtomin A), in soils differing in occurrence of common scab. In the screening study, analysis of terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) was employed to compare composition of soil actinobacterial communities. Real-time PCR was used to quantify total actinobacteria and streptomycetes harboring txtA gene in soils differing in scab incidence. The screening study revealed negative correlations between the scab severity and (i) available phosphorus in soil and (ii) diversity of actinobaterial community. The results were used to design a model for scab prediction. A qPCR analysis showed difference in numbers of total actinobacteria and the strains harboring txtA gene in...

This work is aimed for Actinobacteria and describes their importance in Arctic soil. The members of Actinobacteria are known for their ability to decompose complex natural biopolymers and because they are able to live in harsh arctic environment they could play there an important role in organic matter decomposition. The work compares their abundance in different soil horizons with the focus on cryoturbations and determines the influence of temperature on their amount. This work also represents the results of testing pure Actinobacterial isolates for the production of cellulolytic enzymes.