Microbial Communities Inhabiting Manganese Deposits Formed on Stainless Steel Surfaces in Freshwater Systems

Microbiologically influenced corrosion (MIC) of stainless steel by manganese oxidizing microorganisms (MOMOs) can occur in freshwater systems and provoke fast and extensive damages in certain cases. Due to this possible implication of MOMOs in corrosion, we conducted this study to identify the microorganisms present in manganese deposits formed on stainless surfaces exposed to freshwater. For this, we used culture independent DNA-based techniques (denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis, DGGE) of polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-amplified 16 rDNA fragments and isolation of manganese-oxidizing bacterial populations by culture dependent methods. A comparison is made between culture independent and culture dependent results; the possible involvement of the detected bacteria in MIC is also discussed.