Anna Kizilova

• PhD in Microbiology
• Researcher at Russian Academy of Sciences

Diazotrophic gut symbionts are considered to act as nitrogen providers for their hosts, as was shown for various termite species. Although the diet of lagomorphs, like pikas or rabbits, is very poor in nitrogen and energy, their fecal matter contains 30–40% of protein. Since our hypothesis was that pikas maintained a diazotrophic consortium in thei...

Aerobic methane oxidation has been mostly studied in environments with moderate to low temperatures. However, the process also occurs in terrestrial thermal springs, where little research on the subject has been done to date. The potential activity of methane oxidation and diversity of aerobic methanotrophic bacteria were studied in sediments of th...

This study was carried out to determine the effects of bacterial inoculation on soybean plants in field experiments as far as soil biological and physicochemical parameters. Data revealed that binary application of Bradyrhizobium and Bacillus was superior to other treatments and significantly increased seed yield and protein content. PCR-based DGGE...

Human activities such as land management and global warming have great impact on the environment. Among changes associated with the global warming, rising methane emission is a serious concern. Therefore, we assessed methane oxidation activity and diversity of aerobic methanotrophic bacteria in eight soil types (both unmanaged and agricultural) dis...

The methane-oxidizing microbial communities inhabiting the bottom sediments of 36 hot springs of the Uzon caldera (Kamchatka, Russia) located in the thermal fields Vostochnoe, Oranzhevoe, and Severnoe, as well as near the lakes Fumarol’noe and Khloridnoe and the Izvilistyi stream, were studied. Methanotrophic bacteria were detected by PCR and FISH...

Biological nitrogen fixation plays an important role in the nitrogen balance of agricultural ecosystems and provides an essential part of nitrogen nutrition for plants, even in conditions of intensive fertilization. The main agrobiotechnological method for soybean cultivation (Glycine max (L.) Merril) is an application of microbial preparations bas...

A stable bacterial association isolated from a sulfur block sample of the Astrakhan gas processing complex was able to utilize n-alkanes as the sole carbon and energy source at low pH. Hydrocarbon-dependent growth occurred at pH 1.6–5.5 (optimum at pH 2.5) and 20–50°C (optimum at 30–35°C). Analysis of the 16S rRNA gene fragments isolated from the t...

Kamchatka peninsula is the unique area of modern volcanism manifestation. Kamchatka hosts more than 300 volcanoes in total. About 30 volcanoes are active and potentially active. Volcanoes which are extinguished long time ago are also of scientific interest, for example, Uzon volcano caldera, which appeared 40 000 years ago. On this area the great n...

Little is known about microbial methane oxidation at temperatures over 50 degrees Centigrade. At the moment known moderately thermophilic and thermophilic methanotrophs belong to three genera of Gammaproteobacteria and phylum Verrucomicrobia. Highest temperature, at which methane was oxidized by a methanotroph, was shown for Methylothermus thermali...

Methane oxidation by microorganisms inhabiting aerobic soils is a key process involved in the regulation of the concentration of this significant greenhouse gas in the atmosphere; however, the microorganisms responsible for this process remain unknown. Three stable methane-oxidizing cultures were isolated from samples of forest soils (FS) and agric...

Nitrifying bacteria play a key role in the global nitrogen cycle due to their ability to convert reduced nitrogen compounds (ammonium) to oxidized ones (nitrite and nitrate). Recent investigations based on the methods of molecular ecology revealed that bacteria are responsible for nitrification in natural ecosystems. At the same time, data on the s...

A new species of the genus Ancylobacter, exemplified by strain Z-0056, was isolated from dystrophic humified waters formed by xylotrophic fungi grown on decaying spruce wood. The cells of strain Z-0056 (0.65–0.9 μm) are coccoid, gram-negative, with fimbriae, and nonmotile. The strain is pleomorphic and reproduces by nonuniform division. Strain Z-00...

Methane is a radiatively active trace gas, contributing significantly to the greenhouse effect. It is 26 times more efficient in absorbing and re-emitting infrared radiation than carbon dioxide. Methanotrophs play an essential role in the global carbon cycle by oxidizing 50-75% of the biologically produced methane in situ, before it reaches the atm...

A novel obligately aerobic heterotrophic bacterium belonging to the genus Xanthobacter, strain Z-0055, was isolated from the bacterial community of dystrophic waters formed by xylotrophic fungi grown on decaying spruce wood. The cells are small (0.4 ±0.7 fum), ovoid, grarrmegative, and nonmotile. The strain reproduces by nonuniform division. Strain...

Two families of the order Lagomorpha, Ochoto� nidae, and Leporidae, are characterized by a peculiar dietary adaptation, i.e., obligate autocoprophagy. The animal produces excrement of two types: solid flat� tened pellets, which contain large undigested food

In the actinomycete complexes of Mongolian desert soils, thermotolerant and thermophilic actinomycetes were found in high abundance, exceeding that of the mesophilic forms. Among the thermotolerant members of the order Actinomycetales, Streptomyces, Micromonospora, Actinomadura, and Streptosporangium species were most widespread in desert soils. Ex...

In the actinomycete complexes of Mongolian desert soils, thermotolerant and thermophilic actinomycetes were found in high abundance, exceeding that of the mesophilic forms. Among the thermotolerant members of the order Actinomycetales, Streptomyces, Micromonospora, Actinomadura, and Streptosporangium species were most widespread in desert soils. Ex...

Microbial communities inhabiting such extreme ecosystems as continental volcanogenic hot springs are of considerable interest for both basic and applied biotechnological studies. The currently available data on methanotrophs from highhtemperature habitats are scarce [1]. The validly described species of thermoo philic and thermotolerant methanotrop...

Soils of peatlands and wetlands are important as a source or sink of carbon greenhouse gases, which fluxes can differ significantly depending on soil transformation during land and soil management. Effect of human intervention into peatlands disturbs the balance between production and consumption of greenhouse gases, which can lead to unusually hig...

For the first time complex molecular-biological studies of microbial communities of 5 thermal springs, located around Lake Fumarolnoe, Uzon volcano caldera, Kamchatka, is conducted. The methods based on PCR technologies (PCR-detection, PCR-DGGE, cloning) and fluorescence in situ hybridizations (FISH) for analysis of ribosomal and functional genes,...

A group of aerobic microorganisms, known as methanotrophs, has wide range of biotechnological applications, for instance, they oxidize biogas, generated by solid waste landfills and containing 50-70% of methane, and convert methane into methanol. Thermophilic methanotrophs are preferable in this case, since high cultivation temperatures make methan...

The intensity of the actual and potential CO2 emissions, nitrogen fixation, denitrification, and methane production were determined by gas chromatography in alpine mountain-meadow soils under different types of phytocenoses at the Teberda State Reserve. The main factors that control the intensity of these processes in the mountain-meadow soils are...